<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Everything Changes by emmarab1999</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27799018">Everything Changes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmarab1999/pseuds/emmarab1999'>emmarab1999</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Way Things Could Have Been [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army, F/M, Fluff, Fred Weasley Lives, Friends to Lovers, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Muggle Culture, Muggle Technology, Muggle/Wizard Relations, Muggles, POV Fred Weasley, Romance, Triwizard Tournament, Wizarding Culture (Harry Potter), Wizarding Wars (Harry Potter)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:35:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>52,376</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27799018</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmarab1999/pseuds/emmarab1999</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"What are you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"</p><p>"I thought you said I didn't go to class." Fred smirked, leaning up against the wall, "Besides, Naomi asked me to fix the enchantments on your car."</p><p>"Well, hate to break it to you Freddie," I teased,  "But my car isn't in my dorm, you're a bit off track."</p><p>"I'm well aware of that fact Walters." He said dryly, rolling his eyes and mindlessly brushing his hair back, his muscles tensing through the sleeves of his uniform.</p><p>Jesus.</p><p> </p><p>// Ever since her twin sister received a letter from Hogwarts when they were eleven, Gemma Walters always dreamed of being a witch herself. It wasn't fair that her identical twin got to spend her school year in a castle practicing magic while Gemma had to live a boring muggle life. But everything changed the summer the girls turned sixteen, when Naomi decided that enough was enough, and Gemma was going to spend her school year at Hogwarts as well. While at Hogwarts, Gemma learns how to navigate life as a secret muggle within the walls of a school for witches and wizards. Along the way, she might even find out things about herself that she never thought possible.  //</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fred Weasley/Original Female Character(s), George Weasley/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Way Things Could Have Been [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2102562</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Sixth Year- Midnight Letters</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I’ve always known that my twin sister and I were bound to have different futures. She had always been my favorite person in the entire world, so it was never an issue of whether or not I enjoyed being around her. I just always had this gut feeling, even when we were young and innocent, playing in the woods behind our grandparents house, that we were destined for different things. </p><p>We may have looked scarily similar, down to the exact freckle, but we couldn’t have been more different.</p><p>My suspicions were confirmed the summer we turned eleven, when Naomi received a sealed letter stating that she was invited to attend a prestigious wizarding school in the Scottish Highlands, to learn how to be a witch alongside other young witches and wizards. Because that was what she had always been.</p><p>A witch.</p><p>I learned later that if she was a witch, then that meant that I was a muggle. I hated when Naomi referred to me and my parents as muggles, it made me feel sick to my stomach. If my sister, who shared the exact same genes as me, had magic coursing through her veins, then what did that say about me?</p><p>But I couldn’t deny that it was true. That’s just what I was, and there was no changing what I was born to be.</p><p>
  <em>A muggle.</em>
</p><p>Just saying it left a horrible taste in my mouth.</p><p>Naomi quickly realized this, and avoided using it as a way to describe me. To her, I was still her regular old twin sister. She acted as though nothing had changed between us after she received her letter. But to me, she was totally different. She got to grow up surrounded by like-minded people, who all had one major thing in common, and every summer she returned home, I could sense a new shift within her. One that was pulling her further and further away from me.</p><p>Our special twin bond fading with each passing year.</p><p>To say that it never bothered me that Naomi was the family witch while I was just an ordinary <em>muggle </em>would be a total, utter lie. I was jealous all the time. Sometimes, on a day that my mum decided to be particularly insane, I was actually seething with jealousy. If you looked close enough, you might have even seen it dripping from my pores.</p><p>But I would never tell Naomi, it wouldn’t be fair to her. It wasn’t her fault that she was a witch and I wasn’t. I just couldn’t seem to wrap my head around it. I spent many sleepless nights wondering, <em>why her</em>? Why did she get to be the witch? I was older, and arguably much cooler than her, yet she got to gallivant around some ancient castle in Scotland while I sat at a cold desk within the confines of the same cinderblock building I had sat in every day of my life since I turned six, only a few blocks down from the same house I’d lived in since I was born.</p><p>By the time I was sixteen, I was over it. I was over being cast away in the shadows of my twin sister who could do no wrong in the eyes of my parents. I was over spending my nights alone, dreaming of witches and wizards, and unicorns and dragons, and all the other things Naomi wrote to me about but I never had the chance to experience.</p><p>I was going to go to Hogwarts. And no one was going to stop me.</p><p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p><p>“We’ll see each other for Christmas, Gem.” Naomi said as she folded her red robes and laid them delicately into her trunk. She was coming up on her sixth year at Hogwarts, and she had developed a very precise order for packing her things away. She only had one small trunk that had to fit her entire life for the next ten months. That, and she was very particular about things like that.</p><p>“That’s not soon enough, Nom.” I stated as I sat on my own bed, watching as she meticulously placed each individual item she owned into their specific spot within her trunk. “I want to actually <em>visit</em> you at Hogwarts this year. Besides, Christmas break is way too far away.”</p><p>“If you could actually visit me, you would have done it hundreds of times,” She replied, “But you know that muggles aren’t allowed at Hogwarts.”</p><p>I tensed up at the word. She never said it, so whenever it did slip out, it always caught me by surprise.</p><p>“Sorry.” She muttered, turning away from me when she realized the tension I was suddenly holding.</p><p>“I’m sure we could find a way around it.” I said slyly, shaking the word out of my brain and loosening up my shoulders. She didn’t mean it, and it wasn’t worth getting in a fight over, especially if I was about to drop the biggest question I had ever asked her before.</p><p>“Gem,” She sighed while rolling up her red and gold tie and placing it within her empty cauldron, a trick I taught her last summer, “You know how much I want you there, it just isn’t possible. Plus, you can’t just skip out on your plans with James, you’ve been working towards this trip for years.”</p><p>I sighed and laid down across my bed at the mention of his name.</p><p>James was my boyfriend. Well, technically ex-boyfriend, but Naomi hadn’t learned that particular piece of information yet, even though it had happened at the beginning of summer and we were only a day away from the start of the new term. James and I had been planning on backpacking across Europe after he graduated. The problem was, he was two years older than me, so his graduation date was much earlier than mine, and he didn’t want to wait two years for me. I figured out a way to graduate at the same time as him, by cramming in as much work as I possibly could in order to graduate two years early. It was a rough few semesters and summers, but it seemed worth it at the time.</p><p>Naomi had no idea that we broke up, canceling any plans I had for a future, and I wasn’t looking forward to that particular conversation.</p><p>“Well,” I said, staring up at my ceiling, focusing intently at the remnants of glow-in-the-dark stars plastered in made up constellations. Memories of a simpler time, without cheating boyfriends and magic sisters. “It seems that I am going to be skipping out on those plans, considering he dumped me for some blondie he’d been seeing on the side.”</p><p>I closed one eye and slowly turned my head, bracing myself for whatever reaction Naomi would throw my way. To no one’s surprise, her face was laced in sadness, with possibly just a hint of pity.</p><p>I absolutely despised it.</p><p>I didn’t have any time to register what was happening before she threw the sweater she had folded down onto her bed and jumped into mine, engulfing me in the tightest hug I had ever experienced.</p><p>“Jesus, Nom.” I grunted as I pulled away from her and sat up against the wall. “It’s really not that big of a deal.”</p><p>“When did it happen?” She asked calmly, gently placing her hand on my thigh.</p><p>“Right before you came home from school.” I replied, giving her a half-assed smile.</p><p>“You’ve been holding this in all summer?” She exclaimed. I couldn’t tell if she was getting more upset for me or if she was holding onto just a bit of anger. Either way, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like when people felt bad for me, so I tried to keep my personal business personal.</p><p>“Seriously Naomi, I’m okay.” I replied, getting up from my bed to grab my Walkman off my desk. Music was my favorite type of escape, and talking about James was definitely a good excuse to escape from reality.</p><p>Naomi hopped off of my bed, muttering something under her breath about how she could just kill him if she ever saw him again. I just rolled my eyes and popped my headphones over my head, pressing play on the cassette tape. I didn’t think she could even hurt a fly, let alone murder my ex-boyfriend.</p><p>“You know what,” Naomi said minutes later while strapping up her trunk, “I <em>am</em> going to bring you to Hogwarts this year, I really think that George and I could pull it off. It would be the greatest prank of all time.”</p><p>I lifted my headphone off of my ear, sitting up in my bed. George was Naomi’s boyfriend, who she had told me time and time again was a bit of a prankster with his own identical twin brother, Fred. It always baffled me that Naomi would have ended up with someone like him, and it seemed as if a bit of his mischievous energy was rubbing off on my goody-too-shoes twin sister. </p><p>“What?” I asked, placing my headphones around my neck.</p><p>“Yeah!” She exclaimed, pulling her trunk off her bed and onto the floor, “Merlin, Gem, I think we could actually pull this off!”</p><p>Naomi rushed to her desk and pulled out her parchment and quill, as if she lived in the eighteenth century, and started swiftly writing a letter.</p><p>“How?” I asked, but she just ignored me as she continued to write the letter, “How would you even pull that off?”</p><p>I continued to pester her about it, but she never once looked up from the parchment, until three pages later when she slipped it into an envelope, opened our window, called for her owl, Caspian, who had been perched on the tree in our garden, and handed him the letter. He seemed to know exactly where to go as he flew off into the horizon.</p><p>“Don’t tell mum and dad you canceled your trip with James,” She said with a sly smile. “You’re living with me this year.” </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Sixth Year- A New, Crippling Fear</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Naomi shook me awake the next morning, and in my exhausted state, I could just barely make out a figure sitting across from me on her bed. I rubbed my eyes a few times until they came into focus and realized that the figure was a tall, red headed male, who I could only assume was George Weasley.</p>
<p>“How the hell did you get him into the house?” I said, impressed by my twin, who up until this point had never done a single thing that was against our parent’s rules. I was beginning to wonder how much she really was telling me about her life at Hogwarts.</p>
<p>Naomi just looked at me and put her finger over her mouth, indicating that it was a secret.</p>
<p>“George Weasley” the boy said, getting up from Naomi’s bed and holding out his hand for me to shake, “Pleased to meet your acquaintance”</p>
<p>I pushed the covers off and sat up in my bed, catching a glimpse of Naomi playfully roll her eyes as she walked over to her desk and grabbed a stack of papers, which must have been what she had been working on all night.</p>
<p>“Nice to meet you, I’m Gemma Walters.” I said, taking his hand, “I heard you’re the guy who’s gonna get me into Hogwarts this year.”</p>
<p>“Well we’re certainly going to try.” He responded with a smirk, looking back at Naomi who was standing there with a huge grin across her face.</p>
<p>“It’s not gonna be easy though,” Naomi said, pulling up her desk chair for George and taking a seat next to me on my bed, “But I really think it’s going to work.”</p>
<p>George stared intently at Naomi as she spoke, hanging on to her every word. He looked at her as though she were the most perfect person he had ever seen before, and my heart began to ache at the thought. I missed having someone look at me like that.</p>
<p>“But we have to work fast,” She continued,  “The Hogwarts Express leaves in four hours, and George can’t miss that train”</p>
<p>“What about you?” I asked, pushing away my own selfish thoughts.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about me.” She said with a sly smile, locking eyes with George, “We figured out a way to get there without the train.”</p>
<p>“I’d be coming with you if my mum didn’t insist on escorting us to the station,” George added, “She would lose her head if I didn’t show up.”</p>
<p>“Fair,” I said, shrugging my shoulders and scooting back up against my bedroom wall, “So what’s this magnificent plan of yours, then?”</p>
<p>Naomi and George excitedly began explaining exactly how they were going to get me into Hogwarts. They bounced back and forth between each other as if they shared the same brain, their eyes both sporting the same gleam of excitement as their plan began to unravel before me.</p>
<p>That morning, George got up at the crack of dawn to talk to his dad before he headed off to work, asking him about enchanting cars to make them fly, and how one could possibly do that, for research purposes of course. His dad was thrilled that he had asked about that, so he was eager to give him every detail he needed, no questions asked.</p>
<p>“Isn’t it like, illegal, for you two to practice magic outside of school?” I said, raising one of my eyebrows and glancing back and forth between the couple.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about that,” Naomi replied, “I wrote to my friend who just turned 17 a few weeks ago and she said she would love to help. She’ll be here soon to enchant your car, and then we’ll head to Kings Cross Station to drop off Georgie.”</p>
<p>“Okay…” I said, not too positive that this was all going to work. Things tended to go wrong whenever I was involved. Not because of anything I did or didn’t do, I was just flat out unlucky. There was never really anything I could do to stop it.</p>
<p>They went on to explain how George’s youngest brother and his best friend had flown the family car to Hogwarts two years prior, which was how they knew it was possible to get there without taking the train.</p>
<p>I couldn’t shake the thought that, despite my many attempts at convincing myself it wasn’t true, I didn’t have any magical abilities. I wasn’t a witch or wizard, like the two boys who had flown the car to school a few years prior. And Naomi had told me multiple times before that there were protection spells surrounding the castle making it next to impossible for non-magical folk to even see the castle, let alone spend an entire semester there.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about that, Gem.” Naomi assured me. “Last year, we had every single protection imaginable placed on the school, yet an escaped prisoner still made his way onto the grounds.”</p>
<p>“At this point, I’m beginning to think the protection spells were just some baloney they feed to the parents to make them think we’re safe there.” George added, “<em>Safest place on earth, </em>my arse.”</p>
<p>“Plus,” Naomi added, “All of the protection spells were placed centuries ago, before cars were even invented. If there really are protection spells, who knows if they will even work through your car.”</p>
<p>“That’s your genius idea?” I snapped, a bit stressed at the idea of flying all the way to Scotland only to see just a field of grass nestled between the mountains. “We’re just gonna hope that they didn’t plan ahead?”</p>
<p>“Umm yeah.” Naomi said, looking defeated.</p>
<p>George rubbed her shoulder and glanced down at his watch. “Merlin!” He exclaimed, and I raised my eyebrows at him. Naomi didn’t seem phased at his strange language, so I just let it be.  </p>
<p>“It’s almost 9, where’s Carina?” He continued. “We need to leave in 30 minutes if we’re going to make it to Kings Cross before the train leaves.”</p>
<p>“I’m sure she’ll be here soon.” Naomi reassured him, “Don’t worry!”</p>
<p>Naomi had always been a glass half full type of girl. When she broke her arm when we were nine, she didn’t even cry, she just laughed and said that at least people could tell us apart now. She never stressed in situations like these, which she told me once is what makes her a good Gryffindor.</p>
<p>Just then, a loud popping sound could be heard from our kitchen, and I thanked god that our parents had already left for their holiday earlier that morning. The three of us rushed downstairs to see a tall blonde looking through our pantry. I could hear her saying the names of all the food in there, her excitement growing with every new word.</p>
<p>I figured she must have been the type of witch who grew up within the wizarding world, so she never had any contact with normal things before. Still, it was strange to see her amazement at simple things like a package of Oreos.</p>
<p>“Carina!” Naomi exclaimed, running to give her friend a hug, “I’ve missed you so much! How was your summer? Mine was pretty boring, my parents didn’t even let me go to the quidditch-”</p>
<p>George cleared his throat next to me, which brought Naomi back to reality, “Right!” She laughed, placing her hand on her forehead, “The car! Are you sure you want to do this, I don’t want to pressure you into doing anything you don’t want to do, especially since you just turned 17. I don’t want you to have to report to the Ministry for misuse of magic or something idiotic like that.”</p>
<p>As Naomi continued to ramble on, I couldn’t help but stare at her in disbelief. Was she really giving my one and only hope to escape this dreary town and out? George noticed my face and shrugged his shoulders.</p>
<p>“Of course I want to do this,” Carina said, walking away from the pantry and over towards George and me, “This is like, the most exciting way to start my last year at Hogwarts.”</p>
<p>Carina looked me up and down, and I diverted my gaze from hers. She kept looking back and forth, between me and my sister until she finally said, “Blimey Nom, you weren’t joking. You really do have a clone. And I thought Fred and George were bad.”</p>
<p>“We aren’t clones.” I said dryly, annoyed at the term she had decided to use. If anyone even tried to find a difference between the two of us, they would easily be able to tell that we weren’t clones of each other. I had a slight scar on my eyebrow from cracking my head open as a baby, and Naomi’s arm was a bit crooked from when she broke it, since it took her a day to finally tell my mum, and by then the damage was already done. Apart from these two things, yes, we were practically clones, although I would never choose to use that word to describe us. In my eyes, we were just so different.</p>
<p>“Ignore her,” Naomi said to Carina, clenching her jaw and glaring at me, “She’s just a bit tense. We all are. We just really want this to work.”</p>
<p>“Oh, it’ll work” Carina said, not phased at all, “Now, show me this car”</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>It only took about ten minutes for George to teach Carina the enchantment he had learned that morning, and once she figured it out, the car was ready in no time. Naomi jumped up and down and hugged George and Carina the minute the car was hovering in the garage. I stood awkwardly in the corner, not wanting to interrupt whatever was going on between the three of them. If I was feeling like an outsider in my own house, I would certainly be feeling like that the rest of the year as I surrounded myself with more and more witches and wizards.</p>
<p>Naomi thanked Carina profusely before George interrupted and reminded Naomi that we had to start heading for Kings Cross, since it was two hours away by regular car, which would make it about an hour with the new car.</p>
<p>“I should head back home, anyways.” Carina said while pulling her wand back out, “I’m sure my mum’s going mental wondering where I am”</p>
<p>She disappeared out of my garage with only a flick of her wand, leaving me stunned at the sudden open space where she once stood. I wasn’t used to seeing any sort of magic performed, and I thought my car floating off the floor of my garage would be the strangest thing I’d see all day.  </p>
<p>Once Carina had disappeared, George ran upstairs to grab Naomi’s things while we waited for him in the garage.</p>
<p>“Don’t I need to pack anything?” I asked, as the realization dawned on me that I wouldn’t be coming home for months.</p>
<p>“No, don’t worry about that,” Naomi replied, “I packed everything you would need, and hid everything else so mum wouldn’t be suspicious when she saw all of your clothes were still in your closet.”</p>
<p>“You didn’t pack any of my clothes?” I exclaimed, thinking back to my fully stocked closet full of some of my favorite items I’d ever owned. I was beginning to regret agreeing to this plan more and more with every passing minute. Was it really worth losing every ounce of individuality I had built for myself just to live in some creepy old castle?</p>
<p>“Only a few t-shirts and some jeans!” She said, much to cheerfully, “You’re going to have to pretend your me. We’ll be sharing a closet!”</p>
<p>I stared at her, my mouth hanging open slightly. The thought of dressing and acting like Naomi for an entire year made me sick.</p>
<p>“Oh, did we forget to mention that part?” George laughed as he leaned on the doorframe of the garage. I didn’t even hear him come downstairs.</p>
<p>“Umm, definitely.” I responded, swallowing back the lump that had formed in my throat.</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>The car ride to Kings Cross was unlike any car ride I had ever experienced.</p>
<p>I helped George load the trunk and began to make my way to the passenger seat, but Naomi quickly shot me a dirty look, so I took that as my que to sit in the back instead. I rolled my eyes and climbed into the back row, where I had never once sat before, seeing as it was <em>my </em>car. I had tried to convince Naomi to let me drive, but she said that there was no way she was letting a <em>muggle </em>fly an enchanted car. Naomi hadn’t even noticed herself saying the word, and I sunk deeper into the back seat, trying my hardest to ignore the conversation in front of me about all of the magical things they would be able to do once the school year began. I couldn’t recall ever being excited to go back to school before.</p>
<p>It was a bit rough taking off, since Naomi had to pretend to drive on the road, despite the car hovering a few inches above the ground. Once we made it to a side road, away from the prying eyes of the people living in our town, we took off into the sky, flying well above the grey clouds.</p>
<p>I had never experienced any magic before at this point, other than the one time my parents let me go with them to Diagon Alley to help Naomi buy her school things. After that excursion, I stayed in my room for what my mum thought was an unacceptable amount of time and she decided that I wouldn’t be seeing any magic again, for fear that I might slip into some sort of deep depression.</p>
<p>Being up this high scared me more than I would like to admit, I had never even flown in an airplane before, and now here I was in an enchanted car, flying over the outskirts of London.</p>
<p>“I think your sister is going to be sick.” I heard George say, his torso turned around, staring at me in the backseat. He wasn’t wrong. My stomach was all twisted and I had to continue swallowing back anything that tried to surface. Of course I would learn about this new, crippling fear with Naomi’s boyfriend mere inches away from me.</p>
<p>“Shoot,” Naomi said, not taking her eyes off the sky in front of her. I could tell the wheels were turning in her head, trying to figure out what she could do to help me.</p>
<p>“I could roll the window down?” George said, as his hand was already heading for the handle.</p>
<p>“No!” Naomi and I both said in unison.</p>
<p>“I don’t want anyone falling out of this car, George Weasley!” Naomi added, continuing to keep her eyes straight ahead, “Are you gonna throw up Gem?” She asked, looking at me from the rearview mirror.</p>
<p>“I’ll be okay,” I said, clutching my stomach, though I wasn’t quite sure I believed myself.</p>
<p>
  <strong>You better not be lying to me right now I swear to god.</strong>
</p>
<p>Naomi’s voice echoed inside my head and I quickly looked up at her, forgetting about the pain in my stomach and the pounding in my head. It had been years since we communicated like this, and I had started to think that maybe I made up the whole thing. I had been too embarrassed to ask Naomi if she remembered being able to do that too.</p>
<p><strong>I hope I’m not lying<em>.</em></strong> I thought back to her, and she chuckled in the front seat, earning a confused look from George.</p>
<p><strong>It’s been a while, huh?</strong> Naomi thought to me.</p>
<p><strong>You could say that again. </strong>I replied, wondering why today of all days we would suddenly be able to communicate this way again.</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>I had been to Kings Cross station many times before; it was where my parents and I would drop Naomi off every fall and be back to pick her up the following spring. It was also where we started all of our family trips, since my father was terrified of flying, which I guess was where my own fear had stemmed from. It felt fitting that I would start this new chapter of my life where all of my greatest adventures had started before.</p>
<p>We parked the car about twenty minutes before the train left for Hogwarts.</p>
<p>“You can do this” George said, turning to Naomi, who had a panicked look on her face, which I wasn’t used to seeing. Naomi nodded her head quickly as George kissed her on the cheek before hopping out of the car. “I love you!” He said, much to my shock. She never told me they were that serious. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”</p>
<p>I climbed into the front seat, hoping that it would somehow fix the motion sickness that I was getting in the back.</p>
<p>“You ready?” Naomi said, gripping the wheel.</p>
<p>“Most definitely” I smiled. I couldn’t believe that I was going to be at the place I had dreamed of for so long so soon.</p>
<p>"How exactly are we going to get there though?" I said, since I realized that they had never really explained the in between parts of the plan, just the beginning and the end.</p>
<p>"Oh, trust me, it's all going to be very exciting."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Sixth Year- Two Cars in the Forbidden Forest</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Naomi explained to me that the route too Hogwarts was mostly through the countryside, so no muggles would be able to see us once we left London. It was the getting out of London that was the hard part. When George’s brother Ron and his friend Harry did it two years prior, they were spotted by muggles and got into a bit of trouble, and there was absolutely no way that we could be caught, or else they would most definitely send me back home.</p><p>The plan was we would be following the train tracks as far as possible while driving and then find a side road so we could take off, and then follow the tracks to school. The car was faster than the train, so we would arrive at Hogwarts about an hour before the other students. Naomi explained that George and Fred had a map of the entire school that showed where people were throughout the castle. The twins had given the map to Ron’s friend, Harry, the year before, but George was able to get it back from Harry before he left for school this year, promising to give it back as soon as he could.</p><p>Naomi and I would use this map to sneak around the school to get up to the Gryffindor common room, where Naomi would sweet talk the Fat Lady into giving her the password like she always does, and then we would rush up to her bedroom and I would hide out in there until the Great Feast was finished downstairs and Naomi would come back to her dorm and introduce me to my new roommates.</p><p>The beginning of the plan was going by smoothly, as we had already taken to the sky and were following the tracks to Hogwarts, ahead of the Hogwarts Express as expected. I still wasn’t feeling to great, so I tried to distract myself by asking Naomi about the plan for the entire school year, I didn’t like the idea of only being able to hang out with her inside her dorm room.</p><p>“So, what’s the plan Nomi”</p><p>“What are you talking about?” she said looking over at me.</p><p>“How is this all going to work? I don’t like the idea of being you for an entire year. And I would like to make some friends, and maybe learn a thing or two.”</p><p>“Oh Gem,” she said, with a sadness in her tone, “I don’t know how that is going to be possible, George mentioned something about an invisibility cloak he knew that Harry had, but it’s going to be hard to convince him to give it up, especially since Harry and I aren’t super close, I don’t know if he’ll care to help us.”</p><p>“Oh.” The reality of the situation was sinking in, I was about to be my sister for an entire year, not being able to show anyone who I really was.</p><p>“At least you’ll be there with me!” she exclaimed, “Apparently something big is happening this year, they even put an evening gown on our supply list! Maybe if there is a ball you can go with Fred, and people will just think that you guys are George and I!” Naomi laughed at the thought of there being two versions of the same couple at a dance.</p><p>“I was just hoping you could give me a tour around the castle, maybe take me to my first quidditch game.” I said, disappointed. I knew I should be grateful for everything that she was doing for me, but I just couldn’t get past the thought that I was about to basically be trapped in a tower for the next year of my life.</p><p>“We’ll figure something out, I promise!”</p><p>There she goes again with that whole, glass half full attitude, I thought to myself.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>It’s not glass half full Gem, I’m serious, I will figure something out, you aren’t going to be stuck in my room all year. </em>
  </strong>
</p><p>I looked at her, shocked that she heard me, since I wasn’t even trying to think to her.</p><p>“How…”</p><p>“I’m a witch,” she said looking over to me and giving me a wink, “I can do a lot of things that you don’t know about.”</p><p>“Well I’d appreciate it if you kept out of my head.”</p><p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p><p>A few hours later I could see Hogwarts off in the distance, Naomi was beaming from ear to ear. I knew that she thought of this place as her real home, and I was ecstatic to see the place she loved the most.</p><p>Once we got closer to the castle, Naomi took a sharp turn towards a dark forest, and I looked over to her with confusion on my face.</p><p>“Umm, where are we going?”</p><p>“I have to park the car somewhere! And this is the one place I know that no one will find it”</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Although I can’t guarantee we’ll be able to find it ourselves at the end of the year</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>“What?!” This was my car, not hers, and she was willing to leave it out in some creepy forest to be taken over by wild animals.</p><p>“It’s okay! I’ll cast a protection spell over it and as long as I come out and do the spell every two months, then it’ll be just like new when we come to get it at the end of the year.”</p><p>“And if it’s not there?” I said, thinking of all the scenarios that could happen if my car weren’t there at the end of the year, “How would I get back home? What would mum and dad say?”</p><p>“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”</p><p>We pulled into the forest, which Naomi had told me before was called the Forbidden Forrest, which sounded very promising to me and we parked near the edge, but not too close that the car could be seen by any passerby. Naomi grabbed her trunk out of the boot and grabbed her wand to cast the protection spell. The car seemed to disappear in front of my eyes.</p><p>“What do you see?” Naomi asked, making sure that her spell worked.</p><p>“Absolutely nothing.” I said in awe of the power my twin sister possessed.</p><p>“Perfect!” she waved her wand, and her trunk began to float beside her, “Let’s go inside!”</p><p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p><p>“This is so weird” Naomi said as we walked through the empty castle, her wand illuminating the dark hallway’s while she watched the map carefully to avoid any run ins with staff. “I’ve never seen the castle so empty, it’s kind of spooky.”</p><p>I wasn’t entirely paying attention to her, I was too busy taking in everything that I could see around me, it was very dark outside, darker than I had ever seen before, but I could still make out the corridors around me from the faint glow of Nomi’s wand. It was everything I had imagined and more. Eventually we got to the staircase room that Nomi had told me wonderful things about. This room was well lit and taller than any room I had seen before. Nomi laughed as my mouth hung open, in awe of the things I was seeing.  There were hundreds of picture frames on the walls, each one with a moving portrait inside. I could swear a few of them were looking at the two of us, it even seemed as if some were whispering to the others or even transferring between the frames.</p><p>“We’re almost there, we just have to climb up these stairs to the Fat Lady’s portrait, I’m sure she’ll give me the password if I say it’s an emergency. She loves me.”</p><p>Naomi checked the map one more time to make sure no one was near the room before we climbed up the stairs. I tried to hold in my screams as the staircase we were walking on shifted underneath me, turning in the opposite direction then it was initially. I grasped the railing and fell to the stairs.</p><p>“What the hell is happening right now.”</p><p>“Don’t worry,” Naomi laughed, “you’ll get used to it.”</p><p>After what seemed to be a thousand steps, we finally reached the portrait of the Fat Lady that Naomi had told me many times before was the secret entrance to the Gryffindor common room.</p><p>“NAOMI” the fat lady sang upon seeing us walk up. Immediately she began looking back and forth between the two of us, confusion across her face, “What is going on?”</p><p>“Please keep it down!” Naomi pleaded, “I need to get up to my dorm before everyone else, is there any way you could let me in early?”</p><p>Naomi typically got everything she wanted, but not in a spoiled way, but just that everyone loved and appreciated her so much that they wanted to please her as much as possible, and this seemed to be the case for the fat lady as well.</p><p>“You know I’m not supposed to do this Naomi.” She said, crossing her arms, “But I’ll do it just for you, as long as you promise to explain everything soon.”</p><p>“Oh, I promise I will! I just really need to get up there quickly and get ready for the Great Feast.”</p><p>The Fat Lady nodded her head and just like that her portrait swung off the wall, revealing what I only could assume was the Gryffindor common room.</p><p>I didn’t have any time to look around the common room since we were cutting it very close to the Great Feast and I wasn’t about to have Naomi miss it, especially since she thought that there was going to be an exciting announcement during dinner. Naomi pulled me up the stairs to her room and showed me which bed was going to be mine.</p><p>“Luckily for you, Sandy transferred to some American school since her dad got a new job there, so we have an extra bed!” Naomi said while changing into her school robes. As soon as she was finished, she was about to turn out the door and head for the Great Hall, but she turned around first and gave me a tight hug, that I made sure to give back. “I’m so excited that you’re here!” she squealed, “This is going to be the best year ever!” And with that she ran down the stairs, forgetting to shut the door behind her.</p><p>“Me too.” I said to the nothingness around me.</p><p>I got up to shut the door and then sat down on my new bad, taking in all of my surroundings. The room was circular since we were jutting off of a tower. It had four twin size beds, each with canopy’s for privacy, four trunks at the end of each bed, and a nightstand for each bed. The best part about the room though was the circular window dormer that was right in between my bed and Naomi’s bed. I ruffled through Naomi’s suitcase and found a pair of pajamas and slipped off my street clothes.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>I won’t be needing those anytime soon</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>I folded them up and put them at the bottom of my trunk and slipped on the pajama’s I had found. I looked through her trunk once more to see what else she had packed for me and gasped with delight when I saw my Walkman. I quickly pulled it out of the trunk along with my cassette tape case and carefully picked what vibe I was going for that night. I put the cassette into my Walkman and popped my headphones over my head and curled up in the window dormer.</p><p>Staring out into the lake, I realized I had never been so content in my life, and was excited for the year ahead, even if it meant being trapped in this tower, which in all honesty, wasn’t even that bad. I continued to think these things until I drifted to sleep, curled up by the window, listening to the waves crash against the shore.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Sixth Year- The First Night in the Castle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I awoke to the sounds of voices filling the staircase outside of my bedroom door. I figured that the Great Feast had finished and as I sat up, I felt a pain in my stomach as I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast that morning and a few snacks on the ride here.</p><p><strong><em>Please tell me you brought me dinner</em></strong> I thought, mostly to myself, but also to Naomi, praying she could hear me from wherever she was and would be able to run back to the feast and snag me at least some bread and butter.</p><p><strong><em>Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let my big sister starve</em></strong> I heard Naomi joke and I let out a sigh of relief.</p><p>No more than two minutes later I heard the door handle turn, expecting to see Nomi with a feast in tow, but instead it was a girl that I had never seen before. She was much shorter than me, which wasn’t saying much considering most people were shorter than Nomi and me, we were both 5 foot 10, but she was at least 5 foot 4, if that. She had tightly curled dark brown hair and a rich complexion, and she was staring at me in disbelief.</p><p>“What…” she said as she struggled to find the words, “Naomi? I thought you were behind me looking for George, I- How are you here already?”</p><p>“Umm…” I stuttered, not exactly sure what I was supposed to be doing in this situation, I figured Nomi had informed all of her roommates about the unique situation we were going to all be in this semester before we got here, but by the looks of it, she had forgotten about that part of her master plan.</p><p><strong><em>Umm Nomi? </em></strong>I thought, while her roommate continued to ask me what was going on.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>I’ll be up in a minute; I have to find George and say goodnight.</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>I think there were a few important people who you forgot to mention our plans too.</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>As I thought that, another one of Nomi’s roommates entered the room, this one seeming to be the polar opposite of the first girl. She was very pale, almost translucent, and had the whitest natural hair I had ever seen on a person before, her eyes were piercing blue, and she towered over me, but I soon realized that she had heels on, for no special reason at all. As soon as she saw me, she had the same confused look on her face that the other girl had.</p><p>“What is going on?” she said to me and the other girl in the room, “I literally just left you downstairs with George, how did you beat me here? You know it’s against the rules to apparate on school grounds Nom. Honestly, maybe you’ve been hanging out with the Weasley twins too much recently.”</p><p>“Oh well umm,” I continued to stutter, praying that Nomi would come through the door soon.</p><p><strong><em>Shoot! </em></strong>I heard Naomi think in response to my previous thought <strong><em>I’m on my way!</em></strong></p><p>We all turned as we heard the sound of someone running up the spiral staircase, and as soon as Naomi turned the corner, the confusion on the two girls face’s turned to shock, and they both looked back and forth between us trying to figure out what was going on.</p><p>“I can explain!” Naomi said as she shut the door behind her. Her two roommates sat on the trunks at the end of their beds, waiting for an explanation. “This is my twin sister, Gemma!”</p><p>“The muggle?” the girl who came into the room second scowled at the thought of a muggle living in her bedroom. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this girl, or if we could even trust her, but it was too late, she already knew too much.</p><p>“Yes Jules, the muggle.” Naomi glared at her and I felt a sense of pride towards her at that moment.</p><p>“What is she doing her?” the first girl asked, genuinely concerned, she was much sweeter than Jules seemed to be, “I thought muggles couldn’t get onto campus, what happened to the protection spells?”</p><p>“We worked around it!” Naomi exclaimed, excited to share her genius plan with more people than just her and the twins. She quickly described our adventures from earlier that day, while keeping a hushed tone in case anyone walking by listened in and heard us.</p><p>“You should have asked us first.” Jules said, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.</p><p>“I think it’s wonderful!” the other girl said, jumping off the trunk, “I’m so excited you’re going to be here this year!” she pulled me into a hug and I stood there stiff, not appreciative of the unexpected contact. “I’m Annalise Sperney by the way, but everyone just calls me Anna!”</p><p>“I’m Juliana Rose, but friends call me Jules.” I wasn’t sure if she had said that to tell me we weren’t friends yet, or that we would never be friends, so I was just not going to say her name for as long as possible.</p><p>“Nice to meet you guys!” I smiled, and I genuinely meant that. These were the first witches I had met other than Naomi, and they seemed like normal people, other than the fact that they had magical powers. I was going to have to get used to that.</p><p>All of the sudden my stomach growled, seeming to echo throughout the entire room.</p><p>“Please tell me you brought me food.”</p><p>Naomi’s eyes grew wide and she reached into her bag and pulled out an entire platter of food, that most definitely didn’t fit in that tiny pouch.</p><p>“I tried to take food from the feast, but it disappeared after I left the Great Hall, so I had to run down to the kitchens and bribe a house elf, but this is way better than the few scraps I grabbed from dinner!”</p><p>I thanked Naomi and went to eat on my bed, while the girls talked about the exciting news that they learned at dinner. Apparently, there was going to be some sort of tournament between Hogwarts and two other schools that I’d never heard Naomi mention before. Jules was pouting that she wasn’t going to be able to participate since she turned 17 only 2 days after they announced the champions, which meant she barely missed the age requirement. Anna was excited to see all the cute new boys from the two schools, apparently, she was bored of all of the Hogwarts boys since she dated all the cute ones already. Listening about the past tournaments and how dangerous they were, I was glad that Nomi and I didn’t turn 17 until next summer.</p><p>Naomi mentioned that George and Fred were upset about the news as well, since they were turning 17 in April, but she could tell when she left them in the common room that they were already plotting their way into the tournament.</p><p>Hours passed on as the girls continued to talk about their summers while I just listened intently to every word they were saying. Both Juliana and Anna had at least one magical parent, Juliana had two and was raised in the wizarding world, while Anna’s mom was a wizard and her dad was a muggle, so she lived in the muggle world but within a large wizarding community. It was fascinating learning about the things that they did that summer and the lives that they led outside of school, they were way different than Naomi.</p><p>Our parent’s never loved the fact that Naomi was a witch, but they still allowed her to go to Hogwarts all year, but as soon as she came home for the summer, there was to be no mention of magic in our house. Obviously I wasn’t going to allow her to ignore this huge portion of her life for months on end, so I let her talk to me about anything magical that she could think of, and Naomi likes to talk, a lot. So we would spend our summers in silence, ignoring the wizarding world, until we could retreat to our bedroom and talk all about it, all the while her friends were having adventures and learning new things about the wizarding world, and Nomi was stuck in the muggle one. I felt bad for her while we listened to her roommate’s stories about their summers.</p><p>Juliana traveled to America to visit her cousins for the first half of her summer, where the rules were a bit different for when a wizard is allowed to use magic outside of school, since there weren’t many boarding schools in America. Juliana spent her time in America practicing for her apparition exam that was coming up in a few months. Anna didn’t do much wizarding things over the summer other than her required summer essays, but she did end up meeting up with Juliana at the Quidditch World Cup to close out their summer.</p><p>Mum and dad wouldn’t let Naomi go to the event, even though she offered to pay for it herself, and George had said that she could stay with him in his family’s tent. We couldn’t figure out why our parents wouldn’t let her go. At first, we thought it was because they didn’t like the idea of her having a boyfriend, even though I had had one for the past two years and they were fine with him. We eventually decided though that they still thought the wizarding world was too dangerous for Nomi, and that she needed to stay in our safe, muggle, town as much as possible, meaning she couldn’t even visit George all summer.</p><p>Nomi accepted our parents request, never wanting to disappoint them, but I knew that she was upset, and she carried that with her the whole summer, even when our parents were leaving for holiday before she left for school, she barely even said goodbye to them.</p><p>The girls continued to talk until slowly, one by one they all went to bed to prepare for their first classes of the year tomorrow. Eventually it was just me and Nomi still awake. I was drifting off to sleep when a thought interrupted me</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>You still awake?</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>I let out a soft grunt to let her know that yes, I was awake, but I wished I weren’t.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>I’m going to introduce you to Fred Weasley tomorrow. For my plan to work, I’m going to need you two to be pretty good friends. </em>
  </strong>
</p><p>I didn’t respond, instead I turned over in bed and closed my eyes, drifting off into the best sleep of my life.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Sixth Year- A Final Plan of Action</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I woke up on my own the next day, the sun beaming in through the window beside my bed. It took me a few seconds to realize where I was, and when I did my heart skipped a beat. Yesterday had been so overwhelming that I hadn’t had much time to process everything that was going on. I was at Hogwarts, a place I had literally dreamed about for years, and I was here to stay.</p><p>I looked around the room and realized that I was in there alone, so I got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to wash off all of yesterday and get ready for the new day. My first official day as a “student” at Hogwarts. After brushing my teeth and getting dressed, I curled up in the dormer and talked to Naomi, to see where she was.</p><p><strong><em>I’m almost done with breakfast, </em></strong>she thought to me, <strong><em>but I have class in ten minutes, so I got George and Fred to sneak into the kitchen for you today and get you your meals. He can’t climb up to the girl’s dorms though, so you’re going to have to meet him downstairs in a few minutes. </em></strong></p><p>I was shocked. I had to go to the common room to meet them. What if someone saw me and remembered that they had just seen Naomi on the steps outside of the portrait. I voiced my concerned to Naomi, but she wasn’t too worried. Since it was the first day of classes, no one would want to be late to class, and the administration never gave anyone a free first period.  </p><p>I stepped down from the dormer and threw on one of Naomi’s Gryffindor pullovers and headed down the stairs to the common room. I had time to really take in everything around me, since the sun was shining in through the windows and the staircase wasn’t lit by only the small light at the end of Naomi’s wand. As I turned the corner into the common room my breath was taken away by the beauty. I had never seen anything like it before, and I felt as though this wasn’t the last time I was going to be saying that.</p><p>The Gryffindor common room felt welcoming, with its large fireplace that seemed to always be on, as I remembered it was glowing faintly last night as Naomi and I ran up the stairs. It was also full of couches and armchairs, and carpets lining the entire floor and even some of the walls, causing the entire room to feel cozy. I looked around the room to see if George and Fred were there yet with my food. I didn’t see anyone, so I went to sit on the couch in front of the fireplace and warm up, because it was very cold in the Gryffindor tower, despite it being the end of summer.</p><p>As soon as I sat down I heard the portrait swing open and I threw myself off the couch to hide before I could check if it was the Weasley twins, but I fell off too fast in my rush and hit my head hard on the table, which led whoever had just walked in to come over and investigate the noise. I laid on the ground with my eyes closed, rubbing my throbbing head hoping that somehow, they wouldn’t see me, but having no power to get up and hide again.</p><p>“Oi,” I heard a voice laugh above me, “What are you doing on the floor?”</p><p>I slowly opened my eyes and saw George standing above me, twice. Had I hit my head that hard that I was seeing double? Then I remembered that Fred was coming too and I quickly sat up, hoping that they weren’t able to read my mind because I had just committed what I would consider a grave sin as a twin, seeing double.</p><p>“Oww, sorry,” I said, standing up to greet them, “I had to make sure it was you guys before I showed myself, I didn’t want anyone to freak out if they had just seen Naomi in the hall.”</p><p>“So, you thought that banging your head on the table would help with that?” Fred chuckled.</p><p>I rolled my eyes, “Obviously not, that was just a side effect of my wicked reflexes.”</p><p>The boys looked at each other with their eyebrows raised and then George handed me a bag that must have been filled with my food for the day.</p><p>“Here’s your meals,” he smiled, “and Naomi slipped in a copy of her Care for Magical Creatures book, in case you get bored of staring out the window.”</p><p>“Thanks,” I said grabbing the bag from them, “wait shouldn’t you two get to class? Naomi said that everyone has a first period, and I think they started like five minutes ago.”</p><p>George and Fred looked at each other with worried looks.</p><p>“Is that right Fred?”</p><p>“Oh, it certainly can’t be right George. We’ve never been late to class.”</p><p>“Well we must go.” George held out his arm for his brother to link with, “Shall we be off then?”</p><p>“We shall” and the two boys nodded to each other and headed for the exit of the room, arms linked together.</p><p>Before they left though, Fred turned around and looked me up and down “See ya tonight Gem.” He said with a wink.</p><p>And with that the twins were gone and I was once again alone in the common room, and this time I wasn’t going to be caught, so I went back up to my bedroom and ate my breakfast, curled up in the dormer while reading the book Naomi had left for me.</p><p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p><p>The day moved by pretty quickly, I finished reading the book by noon and then spent the rest of the day listening to music and watching what seemed to be first years learning to fly on their broomsticks. Most of them weren’t very good, but a few of them were able to hover over the ground, and one even started to fly pretty high, which the Professor was not having, and neither was I. Apparently this fear of heights I had was much worse than I thought, because I couldn’t look out the window any longer for fear of seeing the young wizard fall off his broomstick.  </p><p>After I finished up my dinner, I heard footsteps in the stair well as the students returned from their first day of classes. I heard a lot of groaning about the course load this year and how it was much worse than previous years before because Hogwarts was trying to impress their host schools, despite them not arriving for another two months. Eventually the door opened, and I was relieved to see Naomi walk in alone.</p><p>“Hey!” Nomi said once the door was shut, “How was your day?”</p><p>“It was fine I guess,” I said looking for the book to return to her, “thank you for this, I finished the whole thing, in one sitting.”</p><p>Nomi looked at me shocked as she took the book back, “I’ll be sure to get you another for tomorrow, I feel bad leaving you up here all day, but I’m still trying to get the kinks worked out in my plan. Speaking of,” she said, changing out of her class robes and into something more casual, “We’re heading over to George and Fred’s room to go over what I have planned so far. I’m gonna go over right now and then you can follow in about thirty minutes, so no one is suspicious of two of us coming from the same side.”</p><p>“How will I know what room they are in, there aren’t any numbers on the doors?”</p><p>“Oh, don’t worry, I’m making Fred wait outside anyways.”</p><p>I stared at her for a second before it sunk in what she was saying, “Nomi!”</p><p>“What! It’s not like you and James never did anything, and besides, I’m a virgin, and I plan on keeping it that way for a while longer, but I still don’t want Fred in the room, that’s just weird.”</p><p>Before she left, she laid out an identical outfit to the one she was wearing, just to keep suspicions even lower. I stared at the clothes for a while, processing the news that I just found out, wondering if I really knew my sister as well as I thought I did, or was the sister I knew just a front, similar to the one she put on in front of my parents, and the real Nomi came out when she got to Hogwarts every year.</p><p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p><p>Naomi had told me just that morning that boys weren’t allowed in the girl’s dorms, so I was confused as to why they thought that it would be okay to allow girls in the boy dorms. I didn’t mind though, because it meant I could hang out with Fred outside of the common room. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, and certainly not to Nomi, but something about him intrigued me that morning, more than his twin George.</p><p>I could easily tell the two apart, even though they were almost exactly alike, but I could tell that George held himself up higher, while Fred was more laid back. Not that George was stuck up by any means, because he was also very laid back, but something about Fred was different. Maybe it was some secret identical twin intuition that allowed me to tell the two apart.</p><p>I passed through the common room without anyone noticing me, and I walked up the stairs to the boy’s dorm. I passed by three doors before finally seeing Fred sitting on the steps, waiting for me to arrive.</p><p>“Hey Gem,” he said standing up and extending his hand out to me, “we never got to properly meet this morning, considering I was late for class and all, I’m Fred Weasley, it’s nice to meet you.”</p><p>I shook his hand back and responded, “Gemma Walters. Do you think they’re done in there?” I nodded towards the door.</p><p>“Only one way to find out!” Fred said as he turned the handle and pushed the door open.</p><p>Luckily, Nomi and George were just sitting on his bed talking when Fred barged in. I knew that Nomi would be upset with me if I interrupted her, at least, I know I would have been upset.</p><p>“Oi Fred,” George exclaimed, “You ever heard of knocking?”</p><p>“Umm don’t think so.” He said walking over to his bed, motioning for me to sit next to him.</p><p>Their room was much different than the one that I shared with my sister and our roommates, they only had three beds in their room, and I wondered where the last roommate was, and if he knew that I was here too. Not only was the amount of beds different, but the room was already a mess, there were papers everywhere and clothes strewn across the floor, I honestly couldn’t believe that Nomi let George live like this, considering how neat she was back home.</p><p>Naomi rolled her eyes at Fred, and not in the playful way that she usually does with George. She was just genuinely annoyed by him.</p><p>“So, what’s the plan?” I said for what felt like the hundredth time these past two days.</p><p>“I think you’re gonna love it Gem, I’m gonna get you out of this tower as soon as possible.”</p><p>Naomi told us that her and I would switch off going to dinner in the Great Hall every two days, so tomorrow would be my first day going to dinner there. After tomorrow, I would join the twins for lunch every day, since Naomi knew I hated getting up early to eat breakfast.</p><p>“Why can’t I go to lunch tomorrow?”</p><p>“Because dinner is the best time to experience the great hall for the first time!” Naomi said, “Everyone is done with classes and they’re in much better moods, you’ll be able to see the difference.”</p><p>“How are we gonna pull this off if the two of you aren’t actually identical?” Fred said next to me, which made me look at him as if he had two heads.</p><p>“What?” I asked</p><p>“Yeah, I mean you clearly have this scar on your eyebrow,” he put his finger up to my face and softly touched the scar I had gotten so many years ago that wouldn’t go away. I pulled away quickly at his touch, but he didn’t notice, and in all honesty, I wasn’t sure why I pulled away in the first place, because I didn’t mind him touching my face at all. “Not to mention your hair is different lengths”</p><p>He wasn’t lying, our hair was different lengths, but it wasn’t drastically different, it was maybe off by an inch or two, something a regular person wouldn’t notice. It made my stomach do flips thinking about how he took the time to notice the little differences between Naomi and me. Not many people did that very often.</p><p>“No one would notice that.” George said while giving his brother a look</p><p>“I noticed.” Fred responded</p><p>“You’re right,” Naomi sighed, looking at her hair. Her hair was the longer one, which meant if this was going to work, she was going to have to cut off a few inches, “Hey Georgie, do you have any scissors in here?”</p><p>George pulled open a drawer at his desk and handed her a pair of scissors, “Are you gonna do this right now?”</p><p>“Why not?” And with that Naomi had enchanted the pair of scissors and it was cutting her hair for her.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>If only you had those when you tried to give me bangs in primary school</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>Naomi laughed, which caused the boys to look at her in confusion.</p><p>“What’s so funny?” George asked</p><p>“Oh nothing.” The scissors continued to chop and shape her hair while she continued on with her plan, “So I was thinking you would go to some classes for me, now hear me out, I have a fool proof plan. I have Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions with both George and Fred, so if you ever need to do magic, they would be there to cover for you.”</p><p>“And what if she is called on to answer a question about something that she knows nothing about? You don’t want her getting in trouble for you, do you?” George asked, genuinely concerned, but I already knew the answer to his question, and it was genius.</p><p>“Well I would just tell her of course!”</p><p>“Tell her how?” Fred asked, still confused, as the scissors completed Nomi’s new look.</p><p><strong><em>How are they not getting it? </em></strong>I asked her.</p><p><strong><em>No idea, </em></strong>she responded <strong><em>I figured they would understand right away</em></strong></p><p>“Through our thoughts.” I said, answering Fred’s question</p><p>The twin’s eyes shot open as though we had just told a pair of muggles that the wizarding world existed, and Nomi and I looked at each other with confused looks.</p><p>“What’s with the face’s?” Nomi said, shooting George a concerned look.</p><p>“You mean like, speaking to each other?” George said.</p><p>“In your mind?” Fred bounced off of George.</p><p>“Together?” They said in unison.</p><p>“Umm yeah.” I was confused, I figured that every identical twin could talk to their match, especially ones that had at least one magical person.</p><p>“That’s not normal.” Fred laughed, “We would know.”</p><p>“So how does it work exactly?” George said, pulling Naomi closer to his side.</p><p>“I’m not a hundred percent sure” she responded, “We did it all the time when we were kids but as soon as I got my letter to Hogwarts we just stopped, I don’t really know what happened. But when we were flying to Kings Cross and Gem was sick in the back, I was suddenly able to do it again, and we’ve been doing it ever since.”</p><p>“And it works long distances? Because Potions is in the basement.” George said.</p><p>“We haven’t tested that far yet, but I was talking to her this morning at breakfast and it was working perfectly.”</p><p>“Wicked” the boy’s said together.</p><p>“Do you guys do that often?” I asked.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Talk together? It’s creepy.”</p><p>“Huh” George said</p><p>“I had no idea we did that.” Fred responded with a smirk on his face</p><p><strong><em>All the time… </em></strong>Naomi thought <strong><em>You wouldn’t believe how weird it can get, I’m honestly surprised that they can’t read each other’s minds.</em></strong></p><p>I let out a soft laugh to Nomi in agreeance, it was strange that we were the only ones who could read each other’s minds.</p><p>“Hey!” Fred exclaimed, “That’s not fair, they’re talking about us right in front of us, and they don’t even have the decency to say it out loud.”</p><p>Naomi and I both looked at each other and rolled our eyes. I don’t know about Naomi, but mine was definitely not in annoyance, and if it was, it would be at myself, because somehow I was falling for the first boy I met at this school, who just happened to be the identical twin brother of my identical twin sister’s boyfriend.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Sixth Year- What's Quidditch Anyways?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I tossed and turned all night, nervous for my first day pretending to be Naomi. It was only going to be for dinner since I wasn’t going to start going to classes for a couple weeks until Naomi got used to them and knew what she could expect, but the thought of pretending to be a student, even for just an hour or so, still made me nervous.</p><p>Naomi told me that she knew a spell that could fix my scar, but I didn’t want to lose one of my few defining features, so I told her I would cover it with some makeup and that no one was going to notice any ways.</p><p><b> <em>Fred noticed, </em> </b> she thought, with a teasing tone, <b> <em>he noticed a lot about you.</em> </b></p><p>
  <b> <em>Shut it</em> </b>
</p><p>Naomi laughed, <b> <em>I knew you would like him.</em> </b></p><p><b> <em>I don’t like him. </em> </b>I lied, praying she couldn’t hear the tone in my thoughts.</p><p>
  <b> <em>Mmhm, keep telling yourself that.</em> </b>
</p><p>The day dragged on as the excitement built for dinner. I didn’t know I could even be as excited as I was at that moment. I tried to keep busy by organizing Naomi’s trunk for her or reading the new book that she got me. This one was on potions though, which wasn’t as interesting as the magical creatures one. It was basically a cookbook but with items I had never heard of. None of these things that I did made time go any faster, so I spent the majority of my day staring out at the lake, pretty positive that I had seen some sort of squid surface a few times.</p><p>Dinner began at five, but Naomi’s last class ended at that same time, and we couldn’t risk people seeing the two of us in separate hallways. I waited in my dorm, counting the minutes as soon as they hit five, waiting for the sound of her footsteps on the stairs signifying my release from this room.  When the large hand hit the three on my watch, I thought about asking Naomi what was taking her so long, but before I had the chance, the door knob began to turn and Naomi walked in, dressed head to toe in her Gryffindor robes with a huge smile on her face.</p><p>“I’m so excited for you!” She exclaimed as she threw her robe onto the bed, “You’re gonna have so much fun!”</p><p>I nodded my head, letting out a slight laugh at her excitement while I grabbed her discarded robe and threw it over my sweater.</p><p>“How do I look?” I asked, straightening the robe out and examining myself in the mirror.</p><p>“Perfect.” She smiled, grabbing the collar of my sweater and flipping it out over the robe.</p><p>I took in one last look at myself before taking in a deep breath and turning towards the door, waving goodbye to Naomi as I turned the handle.”</p><p>“Wait, one more thing.” Naomi added as I went to head out the door, “You’re going to be meeting George and Fred’s roommate Lee today, I don’t like him too much, he’s too loud, so make sure you don’t make him suspicious of us. George doesn’t want to tell him that you’re here yet.”</p><p>I nodded my head, taking in the last-minute information I needed before my dinner.</p><p>“Oh, and George is waiting for you in the common room. You have to sit next to him at dinner, or else people will wonder if something is up with us, and I don’t want anyone to think our relationship is rocky.”</p><p>“You got it,” I said, giving her a thumbs up and making my way down the spiral staircase.</p><p>“Have fun!” she called after me as I headed down the stairs.</p><p>I reached the bottom of the stairs and noticed George sitting on the armchair of the couch, talking with a Gryffindor boy I hadn’t met yet.</p><p>“Hey Nom,” he winked, turning away from his conversation. The boy excused himself and made his way to the boy’s dormitories, leaving George and I alone in our conversation.</p><p>“Ready for dinner?” He added.</p><p>“Yes! I’m starving!” I exclaimed and looked around the common room quickly, “Where’s Fred? I thought you two were supposed to be like, attached at the hip or something.”</p><p>“Oh, he was starving so he already went down, but he’s saving us some seats by him, don’t worry.”</p><p>I could tell by his tone that Naomi had already told him her suspicions about me liking Fred, but I hoped she had the sense to swear him to secrecy.</p><p>We started to head down the enchanted staircase, which I still wasn’t used to. I had to grab onto George’s arm for support or else I definitely would have fallen down.</p><p>Going up was much easier than going down.</p><p>After weaving through a few hallways, we came to the doors that open into the Grand Hall.</p><p>“Are you ready?” George asked, sensing the nerves rising up in me.</p><p>“As I’ll ever be.” I responded, feigning confidence.</p><p>George pulled open the giant door and ushered me inside. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The ceiling looked like a magnificent starry sky, and candles lit the room as they floated above all four tables, which I could only assume represented all four houses. We made our way over to the table filled with people wearing red and gold and found our spot by Fred and their roommate Lee. I made sure to sit next to George, following Naomi’s instructions.</p><p><b> <em>Are you there yet!</em> </b> Naomi’s voice echoed in my head.</p><p><b> <em>It’s wonderful, </em> </b> I sighed, taking in the beauty once more, <b> <em>I can’t believe something like this actually exists.</em> </b></p><p>
  <b> <em>Oh, just wait until they replenish the food! That’s the best part.</em> </b>
</p><p>Suddenly the empty platters in front of me filled with food, seeming to come out of nowhere. It looked like a Christmas feast.</p><p>I gasped, a little too loudly, at the magic that had just happened right before my eyes.</p><p>“What’s wrong with you?” The boy who I assumed was Lee asked from across the table.</p><p>“Hmm?” I asked, lost in the selection that I had in front of me, “Oh, nothing’s wrong with me, what’s wrong with you?”</p><p>Lee looked at me confused but continued to eat the food in front of him, not pushing the question any further. I had to remember that everyone around me had no reason to be suspicious that I wasn’t really who I was saying that I was. If I continued to think like Naomi would, then everything would be fine.</p><p>Fred gave me a reassuring glance from across the table and a wave of relief rushed through me. George pulled me closer to him, most likely to convince Lee even further that nothing was going on, but I couldn’t help but feel weird about it. I knew that nothing was actually happening, and so did both of the twins, but something about the way Fred tensed up when George pulled me closer made my heart flutter. I had to stop that. I was not going to be caught falling for Fred Weasley.</p><p>Dinner continued on with no more interruptions. The boys talked about how upset they were that quidditch had been cancelled that year, but they planned to talk to the team and form a club off on their own to keep up their skills for their final year.</p><p>I sat and listened intently, but I had absolutely no idea what anyone was actually talking about. Naomi had mentioned quidditch many times in her letters, but I never really understood what any of it meant. I told her that, once, in one of my letters back to her, and she responded saying that it must just be something you have to see to understand. She never really mentioned it again, so all the information I had learned in that one letter had all but vanished from my mind.</p><p>Apparently, George and Fred were the best beaters in the school. I didn’t know if I could believe it though, since I got that information directly from Fred, and I felt as though it was just a tad bit biased.</p><p>As we were walking back to the Gryffindor common room after dinner had ended, Fred and George continued to talk about their upcoming practice. Lee had stayed behind in the Great Hall, apparently, he needed to have one more slice of cake before he could return up to his dorm.</p><p>“You know, I have absolutely no idea what you guys are talking about.” I said, looking at both of the boys.</p><p>“What?” Fred said, his mouth gaping open, “Quidditch is only the best sport to exist on this planet.”</p><p>“In this universe.” George added.</p><p>“How do you not know anything about it?” Fred asked, confusion stricken across his features.  </p><p>“You seem to forget that I’m a muggle.” I responded, in a hushed tone so that no one would be able to hear me but George and Fred. “Even then, I don’t know a thing about muggle sports either.”</p><p>“Well, we’re gonna have to fix that, aren’t we Georgie.”</p><p>“Most definitely Freddie.”</p><p>I stared at them, hoping that at least one of the two would care to elaborate, but neither of them said another word as we walked through the portrait into the common room.</p><p>“Well I guess I should be heading upstairs.” I said, with a disappointed tone.</p><p>“No!” Fred practically screamed, “er- you should hang out in the common room, it’s always a great time in here after dinner. Everyone’s lounging around, playing games, talking about their days. You should stay.”</p><p>I looked over to George to see him nodding in agreement.</p><p>“What about Naomi?” I whispered, “I don’t want her trapped upstairs all night.”</p><p>“Don’t worry about her,” George said, “she can do with a little alone time every now and then.”</p><p>I knew George was right, but I had to be sure. I didn’t want to ruin some of her last years at Hogwarts by making her stay in her room a good chunk of the time.</p><p><b> <em>Hey, </em> </b>I thought, trying to get her attention.</p><p>
  <b> <em>HEY! How was dinner? I’ve been waiting for you to come back and tell me everything that happened.</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>It was amazing! I’ll tell you everything soon, but right now the twins asked me to stay in the common room with them, and I wanted to see if you were okay with that? I don’t want you trapped up there all night.</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>Umm of course you can hang out down there! I trap you up here all day long, the least I can do is let you out for more than a couple hours.</em> </b>
</p><p>I excitedly thanked Naomi and looked back to the boys, “She said she didn’t mind!”</p><p>George and Fred gave each other a look, “You’re really going to have to teach us how you do that.” George said.</p><p>“Yeah, who knows the pranks we could pull if we could easily communicate with each other from opposite ends of the castle.”</p><p>I laughed and ignored their question. I had no idea how Naomi and I were able to do it. I was still confused as to how they couldn’t do it. The way they always knew what the other was thinking or going to say next. It just didn’t make any sense. Maybe they were just closer than Naomi and me. They did spend their entire lives together, while Naomi and I had only spent 11 out of our 16 years, missing vital years that changed us each individually.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Sixth Year- Enchanted Shoes on an Enchanted Staircase</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>As the weeks passed by, I continued to spend the majority of my time cooped up in my dorm. I didn’t mind it entirely, it was nice to finally have some free time that wasn’t taken up with studying or the constant nagging of my parents to help them around the house. Naomi would show up randomly throughout the day to check in on me and tell me about any gossip that was spreading around the school at the time. I listened intently, trying to piece together each new scenario that she presented to me, but it wasn’t the same as actually participating in it myself. I didn’t recognize a majority of the names she mentioned, and I couldn’t seem to put faces with the names that I did recognize, so her stories were always a bit of a blur.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just as Naomi had said, in order for her plan to work, I ended up spending a lot of time with Fred Weasley. It seemed as if every time I left my dorm, Fred was there to walk me through the castle, explaining every tiny detail that we passed by as if he was a walking encyclopedia who only had knowledge of the inner workings of Hogwarts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Being a sixth year, Fred had a free period every other day that was meant for studying, but instead of spending that designated time in the library pouring over tome after tome, he opted to spend it with me. He would often say that he only hung out with me because he felt bad that I was alone all of the time, but I could tell that deep down he actually enjoyed hanging out with me. I didn’t mind though. I enjoyed hanging out with him too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The first time Fred showed up at my door I was shocked. I was under the impression that boys weren’t allowed to climb the stairs to the girls dormitories, yet there he was, standing at my door with a cheeky grin on his face as if he had just solved the world's toughest riddle.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How did you even get up here?” I said, looking behind him at the stairs that clearly were not a slide like Naomi told me would happen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I enchanted my shoes,” he said, pulling off his shoe and waving it in my face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I backed away, definitely not wanting to be anywhere near those.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You really think I didn’t figure out a way to get to the girls dorms already? Honestly, woman, do you even know me” he laughed, but I furrowed my brows.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I didn’t really know him, we had only just met a week prior, and despite our few walks through the castle, we didn’t really talk about our personal lives. Fred was always so excited to share everything that he knew about the castle that I didn’t want to interrupt him with the boring details of my muggle life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” he said, noticing the look on my face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I honestly don’t know you that well at all, Fred Weasley.” I said, shutting the door behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well we can change that, Gemma Walters.” He said with a smirk and sat down on my bed, patting the spot next to him “What do you want to know first?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>We began to talk for hours on end about his life outside of Hogwarts. I learned that he had six other siblings besides George, two of which were Gryffindors attending Hogwarts this year as well. “I’m sure you’ve seen them,” he said, referring to Ron and Ginny, “my family is hard to miss.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are they ginger too?” I asked, laughing at the thought of seven ginger children running around. His poor mother.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s a Weasley trait, everyone is a ginger.” He said, running his fingers through his long, red hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What about the rest of your siblings? Are they older than you are?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The idea of having multiple siblings fascinated me. Sure I had Naomi, but we were neither older nor younger than the other, although technically I was older than her by three minutes. As often as I liked to tease her about it, I knew deep down that it really didn’t matter. My parents decided that two was enough after they had Naomi and me, so I never knew what it was like to have younger siblings around. I didn’t even have any cousins that could act as if they were my siblings. My mum only had a sister who never married and my dad was an only child. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like growing up with so many people that were similar ages to you. So many people to play with, I assumed it was never boring at the Burrow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The rest are older.” Fred responded, “Bill is the oldest, he graduated about five years ago, I think, works in Egypt now though as a curse breaker for Gringotts.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A curse breaker?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m not entirely sure what he does to be honest. All I know is that mum worries about him every day, so it must be dangerous. Then there is Charlie, he works in Romania with dragons, so we hardly see him either. And finally, there’s Percy.” I could tell by the tone in his voice that Percy wasn’t his favorite sibling, he just wouldn’t say why. “Percy just graduated last year, and now he works at the Ministry of Magic.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are all of them like you and George?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dashingly handsome?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I playfully hit his shoulder, “No,” I laughed, “Naomi tells me the two of you are pretty big troublemakers at this school. I can’t imagine the stress your mum must be under if all her children turned out like you two.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Turned out?!” he said, pretending to be offended, “I’ll have you know our mother is very proud of the young men George and I have grown up to be. But to answer your question, no. Bill, Charlie, and Percy were all prefects here at Hogwarts, and they excelled in school. Not saying that I’m not a perfect student!” he said defensively, “I go to class,” he glanced at his watch and I assumed he noticed that he definitely had been here longer than one period. “Most of the time.” He added, cringing at the time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t want to be the reason you fail out of Hogwarts!” I exclaimed, trying to push him up from my bed, “You need to go to class!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But I’d rather be here with you.” He pouted, giving me puppy dog eyes before he stood up from my bed, ultimately deciding that it was in his best interest to attend class every now and then.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You can come back tomorrow if you’d like.” I said sheepishly, my face flushing instantly at the sudden confidence I had mustered. “I’ll be here,” I added quickly, noticing the smirk forming on Fred’s face, “Doing absolutely nothing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll definitely be taking you up on that offer.” He said with a smile as he closed the door behind him, making his way down the spiral staircase and heading off to his next class.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After that first day, we fell into a routine. Fred would come up to my room during his free period and we would talk the entire time about everything and anything. Sometimes he would talk about life here at Hogwarts, and other times he would beg me to tell him about what life was like as a muggle. I told him it was nothing exciting, especially compared to the stories he would tell me, but he insisted that it was exciting to him and he wanted to know everything.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>More often than not he would end up running out of the room mid-sentence, remembering that he had to get to his next class. I often wondered what the professor thought of him at this point, considering that it was only two weeks into the school year, and he had already missed two classes and was late for every other one.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>One particular day I sat on my bed, flipping through a new book that Naomi had brought for me to read. I was getting a bit bored reading all of these books about spells and potions, considering there was no way for me to put it into a practice, but Naomi seemed to think that I was enjoying them, and I appreciated her trying to help, so I continued to read them, for her sake mostly. Fred crouched beside me, reading the spines of the many books that I had already read through sitting on my nightstand, waiting for Naomi to return them to the library whenever she got the chance.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t tell me you’re some kind of nerd, Gem.” He laughed, picking up the top book on the pile. That one wasn’t a textbook though, it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Year of the Yeti, </span>
  </em>
  <span>by Gilderoy Lockhart. Naomi told me that he used to be a professor here, and that all of his stories were just fabricated stories that he stole from other wizards, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t interesting.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Half this stuff I haven’t even learned about yet.” Fred added after scoffing at the book in his hand and picking up another, this time a textbook for Ancient Runes that I had yet to read through.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can you really classify yourself as a sixth year?” I joked, pulling the book out of his hand and placing it back onto the pile, “I doubt you actually retained any information in any of your classes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll have you know I actually get pretty good grades,” He said, crossing his arms across his chest. “Despite not always making it to class on time.” He added with a slight laugh, checking his watch quickly to make sure he wasn’t going to be late again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sure you do.” I said, playfully rolling my eyes..</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You can’t talk, I don’t know much about the muggle world, but I know that they don’t finish schooling by 16. So what, did you just drop out of school to hang out with me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>My breath hitched and my face fell as I remembered the circumstances that led me to finish school as early as I did. I didn’t want to burden Fred with the sob story that was my life, I usually omitted those bits when telling him about my muggle life outside of Hogwarts. I tried to hide the look on my face as quickly as possible, thinking of a way I could tell the story that wouldn’t be so upsetting, but Fred noticed anyways.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t have to tell me.” He said, sitting on the empty spot beside me on my bed. “I didn’t mean to overstep.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, it’s okay.” I said, deciding to tell him. I had only told Naomi bits and pieces of this story, sparing her the bad bits, but something about the way Fred was looking at me in that moment made me want to tell him every little detail of my life. It was like he was genuinely interested in everything that I had to say.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I used to date this boy, James.” I continued, cringing at the sound of his name on my lips. “We had been dating since I was 14. He was two years older than me. I loved him, and I </span>
  <em>
    <span>thought </span>
  </em>
  <span>that he loved me back.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I looked at Fred, expecting some sort of witty remark, but he just nodded his head, urging me to continue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, umm, ever since we started dating, James told me that he wanted to travel through Europe when he graduated from school. And honestly, the thought of him being gone from my life for that long made me sick, so I begged my parents to let me finish school two years early.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And they actually let you?” Fred asked excitedly. It seemed as if he was wondering if that were possible for him to do as well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, no.” I responded, “But I did it anyway. I went to my school counselor and told them that my parents approved, and surprisingly they didn’t push any further. We figured out a schedule for me that would allow me to graduate right before I turned 16. As soon as I got my graduation certificate, I finally told my parents what I had done. They were upset at first, but they were even more upset when I told them why I did it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Looking back, I understood why they were so upset. The thought of changing my whole entire life for a boy that I met at fourteen was terrifying. How could I have let this boy rule my life like that?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Eventually,” I continued, looking to Fred to see if he was even still interested in my story. He was, to my surprise, so I continued on. “After months of begging, they agreed to let me go on the trip with James.” I swallowed back tears, thinking about the next part of this story, “I was so excited when I found out that I ran to James’ house to tell him the news. His parents weren’t home, and the door was unlocked, so I ran inside and up to his bedroom,” I could feel the tears streaming down my face as I prepared for the last part of my story.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh no.” Fred whispered beside me, already knowing what was coming next.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I saw him there, lying in his bed with another girl who I had recognized to be from his graduating class. He laughed at some joke the girl had just said and looked up to see me standing in the doorway. He tried to call out my name, but it was too late, I had already seen everything I needed to see. After that I ran home, and I haven’t talked to him since.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That bastard,” Fred said as his face turned red from anger as he shot up from my bed, “I’m gonna kill him, seriously where does he live, I’ll go there right now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fred!” I exclaimed, surprised by his sudden outburst. “It’s okay, I’m over it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The tears streaming down my face said otherwise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, it’s not,” he said, trying to calm back down and pulling me into a hug, “You didn’t deserve that Gem. I would never hurt you like that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I felt him tense up as he said those words. I figured that he had meant that as a friend, but the way he reacted to his own words said otherwise and my stomach began to flutter. The amount of conflicting emotions going through my body was beginning to inflict a pounding headache. Well, that and the tears that didn’t seem to have any end in sight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I realized that this was the first time I had shown any sort of raw emotion about what James had done. I had bottled it up so tightly that by the time it finally decided to burst, there was no stopping it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course it had to be when Fred was here.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I looked at the time and noticed it was ten minutes until Fred’s next class, and despite the fact that I didn’t want him to pull away, I knew that it would be in his best interest to attend class instead of spending more time with the sobbing mess that I was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You should get going,” I said, reluctantly pulling away from him, “I don’t want you to be late again because of me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t leave you like this!” he exclaimed, and I knew there was no fighting him, so I leaned back into him, nodding my head in agreeance and trying desperately to get the tears to stop.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was embarrassing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fred had only known me for a few weeks, and yet here I was telling him every minute detail of my life, the good and the bad, all the while sobbing into his shoulder. He didn’t seem to mind though.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, the tears began to slowly stop and my eyes began to grow heavier and heavier until suddenly I was fast asleep on Fred’s chest, dreaming of a time when the pain I felt would just disappear. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Sixth Year- A Common Antidote to Most Poisons</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was over a month before Naomi decided to let me attend class for her, and by the time she had officially made the decision, I wasn’t even looking forward to attending the classes any longer, I was just looking forward to seeing something other than the walls of my dorm.</p>
<p>Throughout all of her years at Hogwarts, Naomi had been attending classes with all of the same professors, and she had figured that they would treat this school year the same as all the other years, but she had come to learn that sixth year was going to be much harder than she anticipated. Adding on the additional fact that Hogwarts had increased the workload that they placed on the students due to the tournament, Naomi hadn’t been sure if it was the best idea to have me stay with her any longer.</p>
<p>Thankfully, she changed her mind after calming down a bit, her workload lightening as the school year advanced and the professors realized that maybe they were being too hard on their students. I was still wary of every move I made around Naomi, careful to not make any mistakes for fear that she would ask me to go back home.</p>
<p>The morning of my first official Hogwarts class I woke up slowly, having not been accustomed to waking up so early. I normally slept until at least ten in the morning, waking up only to the sound of my roommates returning to the dorm during their first break of the day. Somehow I was even able to sleep through them all getting ready in the morning, which I attributed to them being half asleep themselves as they prepared for their full day of classes.</p>
<p>Naomi’s first class of the day, Potions with Professor Snape, took place almost immediately after the Great Hall stopped serving breakfast, so we had to make the turnaround quick.</p>
<p>Naomi returned from breakfast early and immediately began stripping down out of her uniform, handing me piece by piece as she jumped back into her pajamas that lay strewn across the floor from that morning.</p>
<p>I gave her a weak smile as I yawned and pulled her vest over the white button down, tucking both pieces into her black pleated skirt and straightening the tie that Naomi had fixed with a quick flick of her wand, sending an unwanted pang of jealousy through my veins at the ease at which she could do such menial tasks. The longer I was around her when she was able to do magic, the more jealous I got. It wasn’t like I wanted to be jealous. I wanted to be excited for her. I just couldn’t get past the idea that I just wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that she got to be magic and I was just normal. Boring, even.</p>
<p>“How do I look?” I asked, dryly, still trying to wake up. Naomi motioned for me to spin around and I rolled my eyes as I slowly turned around, giving her a fake smile when I finished the circle.</p>
<p>“Just like me!” she said, far too excited for this early in the morning. “You’re going to have such a good time.” She said as she straightened my tie, despite it already being perfectly straight. She let out a small breath as she stepped away to admire her work, leaving me to stand awkwardly under her gaze.</p>
<p>“Alright, then.” I said, trying to break the awkward tension that I thought I might be the only one who could feel. Naomi was smiling at me as if I was her child she was sending off to her first day of school.</p>
<p>“Make sure you sit by George,” She said as she handed me her potions textbook, “Oh, and tell me everything that Snape says, I don’t want to get in trouble. Oh,” She continued, adding more and more things to the list I had to remember. “George and Fred should be waiting for you in the common room to walk with you down to the dungeons. And you don’t have to worry about getting back immediately, my next class was pushed until this evening, apparently whatever creature we are learning about today is most active at night.”</p>
<p>I nodded my head, taking in every bit of information that she was saying, but knowing I could easily ask her again if I forgot. I gripped her textbook tightly as I opened the door and made my way down the staircase, leaving Naomi alone in the dorm for possibly the first time all year. She would probably have an amazing time, and then ask me why I complained about it so much, but I would deal with that later. For now, I had to concentrate. If I messed this up, I could potentially be trapped in that room the rest of the school year, or worse, have to go back to my muggle home and leave all of this behind.</p>
<p>Everything would be okay though, we were only going to be taking notes, nothing too difficult. Plus, I had Naomi there to tell me everything that I needed to know, if the situation ever came up where I would have to answer a question aloud.</p>
<p>How bad could it be?</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>Fred and George were <em>not </em>waiting for me in the common room as Naomi had promised, so I spent much longer getting down to the dungeons than I anticipated, but I still made it in time with the help of Naomi’s voice guiding me through the hallways and down the staircases.</p>
<p>I saw Fred and George leaning against the wall next to the classroom door, talking with each other in hushed tones. When they noticed me walking toward them they both stood up, with cheeky smiles across their faces that soon dropped when their eyes met my glare. I did not appreciate them leaving me to fend for myself in this maze of a castle. Naomi’s memory was good, but not good enough to walk me through the castle without being able to see for herself.</p>
<p>“What’s with the look?” Fred asked, raising his eyebrow at me.</p>
<p>“You were supposed to wait for me in the common room,” I spat, continuing to glare at him. “I had no idea how to get here.”</p>
<p>“Oops.” Fred said with a smirk. I could tell that he really didn’t mean it.</p>
<p>“Well, you made it here,” George said, stating the obvious. “That’s all that matters.”</p>
<p>I rolled my eyes at the two of them and motioned towards the classroom, urging them to show me to our seats.</p>
<p>As we entered the room, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the change of lighting from the hallway. The room was dimly lit, and considering it was in the dungeons of the castle, that made sense. Shelves lined each of the walls, filled with all kinds of things I had never seen before.</p>
<p>George took a seat at the table in the back left corner of the classroom and I sat down beside him, watching as Fred took the seat directly in front of me, next to a girl I had seen a few times before at dinner and around the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room.</p>
<p>“Who’s that?” I whispered to George.</p>
<p>I had never cared to know who she was before, but seeing her sitting there next to Fred, her hand carefully brushing against Fred’s shoulder as he sat down, made me need to know who she was immediately. I didn’t know what had overcome me. It wasn’t like Fred and I were anything more than friends, we were hardly even that. I just didn’t like the idea of him being so close to another girl for some odd reason.</p>
<p>“That’s Angelina,” George said, answering my question. “She’s a Gryffindor in our year. Fred’s sorta- smitten with her.” He looked up from his textbook that he had already flipped to the page about lionfish spines, the topic we would be learning about, and let out a slight laugh before adding: “Or, at least, he used to be.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” I said, not wanting to make it seem like I cared that Fred had a crush on this girl. She was pretty, it would make sense that Fred would like her.</p>
<p>“You don’t have to worry about her,” George winked with a slight smirk, “I think he’s got his sights set on some other girl now.”</p>
<p>I figured George was talking about me, confirming my suspicions that Naomi had a big mouth, but I didn’t want to be just another one of Fred’s school girl crushes, and I definitely didn’t want to be just  “some other girl”.</p>
<p>I didn’t have much time to dwell on the thought because as soon as George had said that the classroom door swung open and a man dressed head to toe in long black robes swooped into the classroom past all the rows of tables before stopping at the front of the room and writing in big letters on the chalkboard <em>Page 302.</em></p>
<p>I looked over at George’s opened textbook and noticed that the page he was on was 175, nowhere near 302. I flipped to the page myself in Naomi’s textbook and realized that it was not a lesson at all, but instead some sort of recipe for a common antidote to most poisons.</p>
<p>It didn’t seem as if we were going to be taking notes during class.</p>
<p>“We have a change in plans today.” Professor Snape droned, staring intently at each student who dared make eye contact. “You and your partner will be creating the potion on this page to perfection. Any sort of flaw will result in an immediate failure for the lesson today. You are sixth years now, you need to show that you are proficient in your potion making, especially when you are given little time to prepare.”</p>
<p>“More like no time.” I heard Lee mutter under his breath from the table next to me. Snape must have heard it too because he gave Lee a pointed look before assigning him detention for that evening.</p>
<p>“Would anyone else like to join Mr. Jordan tonight?” Snape asked, annunciating the last syllable sharply. The entire classroom was silent, the students staring intently at the recipe in front of them. “Good.” Snape continued. “You may begin. Remember, speak in hushed tones or not at all, I will be grading your most recent quiz, and if you disturb me I might not go as easy as I had planned.”</p>
<p>I looked over at George, panic stricken across my face, but he didn’t seem to mind the change in assignment. With a flick of his wand, all of the ingredients that we needed for the potion floated off the shelves and onto our table. I looked around and everyone else was doing the same thing. I examined the first jar as it landed on the table.</p>
<p>“What is bezoar?” I whispered to him, turning the jar around in my hands.</p>
<p>“You really don’t want to know.” He said, making a disgusted face.</p>
<p>I immediately set it back down, not wanting to push any further or ask about the other ingredients on the table. I turned to page 304 while George prepared the cauldron.</p>
<p>In front of me, Fred was laughing with Angelina as they poured their first ingredient into their cauldron, earning each of them a glare from Professor Snape.</p>
<p>“What are these measurements?” I asked, staring at the recipe. It called for a pinch of unicorn hair and two measures of standard ingredient. I was used to cooking with grams and ounces.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry about it,” George said, carefully pouring what I assumed was the standard ingredient into our shared cauldron, which I had learned from the recipe was a mixture of herbs used in most potions. “Fred and I make potions all the time,” George added as he ran his finger through the recipe, searching for the next instruction. “That’s why Naomi wanted you to start here, in case something like this happened.”</p>
<p><strong><em>We’re not taking notes </em></strong>I thought, suddenly remembering that Naomi had asked me to tell her everything that was happening in the class.</p>
<p><strong><em>What? </em></strong>She exclaimed.<strong><em> What are you doing instead?</em></strong></p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>We’re making some sort of antidote. Apparently, your boyfriend is really good at potions though, so we should be fine.</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p><strong><em>Oh good! </em></strong>She replied, and I could just barely register that she had let out a slight sigh, which was strange, I had never heard something like that before when we spoke like this.</p>
<p><strong><em>I was nervous he gave out another pop quiz, </em></strong>She continued.<strong><em> That would be his tenth one this past month.</em></strong></p>
<p>I accidentally let out a small laugh at the tone Naomi had chosen to use and George looked over at me, confusion washing over his features.</p>
<p>“Something funny, Ms. Walters?” Snape said from behind his desk, looking up from the papers he had been grading.</p>
<p>I sat there, unable to speak, until George gently kicked me in the leg, bringing me back to reality, “Umm, no sir,” I muttered feebly, my gaze shifting to the table below me. “Sorry sir.”</p>
<p>“Hmph.” He responded, “As you were.”</p>
<p>I looked up from the table to see Fred staring at me with a cheeky grin across his face as he mouthed, “No sir, sorry sir.” while making faces at me. I stuck my tongue out at him and he turned back around to work with Angelina.</p>
<p>As the class period neared its end, I grew more and more concerned that George wouldn’t be able to complete the potion alone. I tried to help whenever I could, but he brushed me off, saying that I would just ruin it if I tried to help. I understood, since I had never made a potion before, but I did get perfect marks in chemistry while I was in school, and this seemed pretty similar to me.</p>
<p>I peeked into the cauldron as George added the final ingredient and stirred it counter clockwise three times. It turned a perfect shade of teal blue, exactly how the textbook had described it.</p>
<p>“Oh god, what is that smell?” I asked, plugging my nose and turning my head away from the cauldron.</p>
<p>“That would be the bezoar.” George said, seeming to be unphased by the terrible smell emitting from our cauldron.  </p>
<p>Fred and Angelina turned around to see if our potion matched theirs. To no one’s surprise, they had used too many mistletoe berries, and their liquid was bubbling over the edge of the cauldron, a bright purple color compared to our teal blue.</p>
<p>“Oi, Angie,” Fred whispered to her, “Get rid of that disgusting mess, we’ll just use some of theirs.”</p>
<p>“Absolutely not,” George said, pulling our cauldron closer to us and away from Fred and Angelina, or I guess, <em>Angie</em>.</p>
<p>“We worked hard on this potion.” I said, turning my nose up at Fred and winking at George who just laughed at my blatant lie.</p>
<p>“Oh, come on Georgie!” Fred begged, “Just one time!”</p>
<p>At that moment we heard a loud pound from across the room, and we all turned our heads to see what had caused the sound. I wasn’t surprised to see Snape glaring at our section of the room, specifically at Fred.</p>
<p>“How many times have I told you two to be quiet in my classroom this year alone.” Snape said, glaring at Fred but shifting his gaze every so often at George as well.</p>
<p>“Were we supposed to be keeping count?” Fred said, turning to George.</p>
<p>“If I had known there was going to be another pop quiz, I would have studied a bit more.” George responded.</p>
<p>“Detention.” Snape snapped, “Two weeks, my office.”</p>
<p>“When you say two weeks, do you mean in two weeks or two weeks long?” Fred asked, a smirk on his face.</p>
<p>“Exactly,” George replied, sporting the same cheeky grin Fred was. “You should really be more specific.”</p>
<p>“Three weeks. My office. Tonight.” Snape snapped. “And all four of you failed this lesson today.”</p>
<p>Snape looked pointedly at me and Angelina before saying: “You two should be careful who you befriend.”</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>“Naomi!” Fred called from behind me as I walked out of the classroom alone, my arms crossed over my chest and my gaze unwavering in front of me. I wasn’t excited to return back to my dorm to tell Naomi the horrible news. I had failed the class for her. Well, technically it was Fred’s fault, but it still happened, and I was going to have to be the one to deal with the consequences.</p>
<p>I ignored Fred’s calls, pretending that I didn’t hear him, which was easy to do, since he wasn’t actually calling my name. He eventually caught up to me though as his legs were a good bit longer than mine and I wasn’t walking any faster than normal.</p>
<p>“What do you want, Fred?” I droned, not bothering to look at him as he strolled casually beside me.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry about back there,” He said. “Naomi will understand though, this type of thing happens with us all the time.”</p>
<p>“No Fred,” I said, stopping in the hallway and looking him directly in the eyes, “You don’t understand, this was supposed to be my trial run, and now that I failed the first class, Naomi will never let me go to another one of her classes again.”</p>
<p>“I’m sure that’s not true.” George said, joining the conversation, “And you should keep your voice down,” He whispered, “<em>You’re</em> supposed to be Naomi, remember?”</p>
<p>I rolled my eyes and turned to walk back to the dorms.</p>
<p>“Wait!” Fred said as I walked away, “Wanna help us pull a prank on Filch?”</p>
<p>I sighed and turned to face the boys, “What kind of prank?” I asked, upset with myself that I was actually interested in helping them pull one of their pranks. I had heard about the infamous pranks that the Weasley twins had pulled throughout their years at Hogwarts, but I had yet to see a single one, and I had been in the castle for over a month. I thought it would be exciting to actually help them pull one instead of somehow being caught in the receiving end.</p>
<p>Plus, I didn’t have to be back at my dorm anytime soon.</p>
<p>“We haven’t totally decided yet,” Fred said, and George nodded in agreement, “We were hoping you could help us decide. It’s been so long since we pranked Filch, we’re afraid our skills might be a little rusty.”</p>
<p>I could tell by the look in his eyes that none of what he had just said was true, he just wanted to pull me in even deeper than I already was.</p>
<p>It worked.</p>
<p>“Fine.” I huffed, letting my arms fall to my side. “But I’m still mad at both of you.”</p>
<p>“Oh, good!” Fred exclaimed, ignoring my last sentence, and pulling me into the closest corridor that had no students or professors around. He pulled out a bag of what looked like candy from his robe pocket and handed it to me.</p>
<p>“Pick one.”</p>
<p>The candy looked innocent enough, just like regular wizard candy that Naomi always gave me for Christmas. I pulled out one that looked like a gobstopper and handed it to Fred.</p>
<p>“Good choice.” He said, putting the rest of the candy back into his robe.</p>
<p>“Perfect choice, actually.” George said with a smirk.</p>
<p>“What?” I looked back and forth between the boys, “What does it do?”</p>
<p>“We created this one over the summer.” George said.</p>
<p>“But we were never able to test it on anyone.”</p>
<p>“The Weasley family is too suspicious of any random acts of kindness from us at this point.”</p>
<p>“This is gonna be good.” George said as they started to head towards Filch’s office, “You coming?” he called back to me.</p>
<p>“You still haven’t told me what it does!” I said, running to catch up with them, the incident that had occurred in Potions pushed to the back of my mind.</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>“What if we get caught?” I whispered to George as we hid near Filch’s office. The twins had already broken into the caretaker’s office and placed the jawbreaker on his desk while I stood outside and kept watch.</p>
<p>“Oh, we won’t,” he whispered back, “and even if they do, they’ll never suspect that Naomi would actually have had anything to do with it. Just tell them you were trying to stop us.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, and we already have three weeks of detention,” Fred joked, “What’s a couple more?”</p>
<p>We sat in the shadows for a few moments, waiting for Filch to enter his office. Just when I thought he would never show up, I saw the man walk past the corridor we were hiding in, his mangy cat Mrs. Norris following behind. My heart started beating out of my chest, I still had no idea what kind of prank we were pulling on the poor man.</p>
<p>“You would think that Filch would stop eating the random pieces of candy he found on his desk at this point.” I whispered to Fred.</p>
<p>“Exactly,” he responded, a gleam in his eyes, “He’s so incredibly daft that it’s like we keep pulling our first prank on him every single time.”</p>
<p>“That’s what makes it great!” George laughed.</p>
<p>Just then, we heard a screech come from Filch’s office and soon, Filch came stomping through the hallway, boils all over his face, muttering under his breath that he was going to find the Weasley twins and he was going to kill them.</p>
<p>“Ouch” Fred whispered as Filch stomped further down the hall.</p>
<p>“I thought we were friends.” George pouted before both the twins started to laugh. I couldn’t help but laugh as well, the man’s face was atrocious, and from what Naomi had told me about him, he really did deserve everything that the twins had done to him.</p>
<p>“What was that exactly?” I said as we began to head up to the common room.</p>
<p>“George and I’s candied form of Fungiface Potion.”</p>
<p>“We invented it ourselves,” George stated, a hint of pride on his face. “I told you I was good at Potions.”</p>
<p>Once we arrived back to the common room I turned to the twins and thanked them for an eventful day. Naomi had agreed to have me use this day as a trial date, and next week I would be able to attend more classes if she decided that that was a good idea. Judging by the way class went today, I wouldn’t be surprised if she decided that I wasn’t going to be attending any more classes for the rest of the school year.   </p>
<p>“I’ll see you tomorrow.” I whispered to the twins, knowing that the few people studying in the common room would see Naomi walk back down the stairs in a few moments to walk with George to her next class.</p>
<p>I walked up to my dorm and as soon as I opened the door, I could tell that something was wrong.</p>
<p>Naomi didn’t greet me as she usually would. Instead, she sat on her bed with her arms crossed, giving me a death glare, her jaw clenched as she motioned for me to sit at the foot of her bed.</p>
<p>“Who told you?” I said, sitting at the foot of her bed.</p>
<p>“Angelina.”</p>
<p>“It honestly wasn’t my fault,” I said, even though I knew that that wasn’t what she wanted to hear right now, “It was all Fred. He and Angelina had already failed the lesson, he was just trying to drag us down with him.”</p>
<p>“I don’t care about that Gem.” She said. I raised my brow, trying to get her to explain further. If she didn’t care about failing the lesson, then why did she seem so upset?</p>
<p>“Snape definitely doesn’t like me now.” She sighed. “And I’ve tried so hard these past few years, just to have it crumble in one lousy day.”</p>
<p>“There wasn’t anything I could have done about it.” I explained, hoping that she would see that I was telling the truth. “It would have happened to you too if you had been in class today.”</p>
<p>I was panicking. If Naomi decided that it was too risky for me to attend class for her, then I would be trapped up here forever, and I couldn’t deal with that anymore. It had only been a month, but I felt like I was gonna go all “yellow wallpaper” up in here the longer I spent there.</p>
<p>“I know.” She sighed, dropping her hands to her side and leaning back into her headboard. “It was just easier for me to blame it on you than on nobody at all.”</p>
<p>“So, you’re not mad that I failed the lesson?”</p>
<p>“No, not at all.” She laughed, her demeanor changing instantly. “At least one Gryffindor fails Snape's lesson a week, it was bound to be my turn eventually.”</p>
<p>“And you’re gonna let me keep going to classes for you?”</p>
<p>“Definitely!” she exclaimed, “Today was great! I don’t know why you complain about it so much!”</p>
<p>I rolled my eyes at her as she headed out the door to meet George in the common room.</p>
<p>She had only been alone up here for a couple hours. She had no idea what it was like to be up there for hours on end, day after day. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Sixth Year- A Hip New Hangout for Some Acromantulas</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After spending hours alone in my dorm, I was beginning to long for that same thrill I felt pranking Filch. The days drug on inside my tiny dorm, and it felt as though every single day, the walls shrunk in closer and closer, until one day they would just swallow me whole, and I would be stuck there forever.</p>
<p>Only one thing saved me from this inevitable suffocation.</p>
<p>Frederic Gideon Weasley.</p>
<p>His visits to my dorm every few days gave me enough serotonin to last the next few days that I would have to suffer in my dorm alone.</p>
<p>He always had things to talk about, and I could listen to him for hours without getting bored. He talked about the wizarding world, things Naomi had never mentioned to me before since they existed outside the world of Hogwarts and her occasional trips to Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. He talked about his family, and the inventions that he and George were making. He even talked about his dreams for after he graduated Hogwarts, renting a storefront and opening his very own joke shop with George.</p>
<p>Not only could he talk for hours, but he could also listen as I droned on and on about my own boring life outside of the castle. He listened as I talked about the muggle world, his eyes bright with excitement as I described what I thought to be the most mundane of things. He made me realize that my life might not have been as boring as I had originally thought.</p>
<p>It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. He could come to see me every day if that’s what he fancied, and I would never get bored of it.</p>
<p>But he couldn’t come every day, he had a life outside of me. I knew that I was just something new and exciting to occupy his free time, but he never made it seem that way.</p>
<p>I heard a knock on my door one Monday afternoon, a day usually reserved for preparing myself for Defense Against the Dark Arts that I would be attending for Naomi the next day. I was deep in the middle of learning the purpose of a flesh eating slug when I heard it, and my entire body tensed up, my heart beating out of my chest. The only people who would be coming to my dorm in the middle of a weekday would be my dormmates, and they certainly wouldn’t be knocking.</p>
<p>I cautiously closed my book, trying not to make any sounds as I crept to the door. If someone I didn’t know was on the other side of the door, there was no way I could let them know I was in there. The floor creaked below me and I stopped in my tracks, closing my eyes and taking in a deep breath that I held as I listened for any sort of movement outside of my door. The knocking stopped, and I hoped that whoever it was on the other side had given up.</p>
<p>“Gemma, open up, I know you’re in there!”</p>
<p>It was Fred. For some reason, he had decided it would be a brilliant idea to terrify me.</p>
<p>I let out the breath I had been holding and walked over to the door, slowly opening it and stepping to the side for him to come in.</p>
<p>“Fancy seeing you here.” Fred laughed as he sauntered past me. He jumped up onto the dormer and patted the open space beside him. I tried to stifle my laugh, but I couldn’t seem to do it. Something about the way he looked at me made me forget any of the fear I had only a few moments before.</p>
<p>“This is <em>my</em> room.” I replied, making my way over to the dormer. I took the spot next to him, my heart pounding more than it had been early when I had first heard the knock. How could this boy be making me feel this way already? I’d only known him for a month.</p>
<p>“I should be the one saying that.” I added, “What are you doing here anyways? Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”</p>
<p>“I thought you said I didn’t go to class.” He smirked, leaning up against the wall and propping his leg up in the dormer. “Besides, Naomi asked me to fix the enchantments on your car, apparently the spells wore off quicker than she thought and she asked me to go fix them.”</p>
<p>“Well, hate to break it to you Freddie,” I teased, settling back up against the window, “But my car isn’t in my dorm, you’re a bit off track.”</p>
<p>“I know that Walters.” He said dryly, rolling his eyes and mindlessly brushing his hair back, his muscles tensing through the sleeves of his uniform.</p>
<p>
  <em>Jesus.</em>
</p>
<p>“Then why are you up here?” I asked, trying to calm myself down. He was so close, much closer than we usually were when he hung out in my dorm. I wondered if he could hear my heart pounding out of my chest, or the blood rushing to my head.</p>
<p>
  <em>Did wizards have super senses? No, Naomi definitely would have mentioned that once or twice.</em>
</p>
<p>“I need your help.” He smirked, “I’ve been searching the edge of the Forbidden Forest all morning, but I can’t seem to find your car anywhere.”</p>
<p>“And?”</p>
<p>“And I’ve missed all of my classes.”</p>
<p>“Oh, I’m soo sorry,” I drawled, playfully rolling my eyes and strategically placing my hand on his thigh, “I know how important school is to you.”</p>
<p>I still didn’t understand his reasoning for being in my dorm in the first place. I didn’t mind, any excuse to be around him was a good excuse, but I was still confused, nonetheless. If he wanted my help he certainly wouldn’t be getting it, I couldn’t leave my dorm while Naomi was somewhere in the castle. It was far too risky.</p>
<p>“Oh, shove off Walters.” He replied, a cheeky grin on his face exposing his dimples. I just about fainted at the sight. “I don’t know what I did to make you think I was some sort of delinquent who enjoys cutting class.”</p>
<p>“Just the vibes you give off.” I replied, furrowing my eyebrows. He laughed again, his shoulders moving up and down, his hair bouncing along with them. I was mesmerized. God, did he slip me some sort of love potion to make me feel this way? There was no reason why I should be having these feelings in the first place, let alone with the twin brother of my sister’s boyfriend.</p>
<p>“Ignoring that.” He said, shaking his head. “Anyways, I came up here to get you to come with me. We need to find your car before the acromantulas claim it as their own.”</p>
<p>“Acromantulas?” I asked, entertaining the idea that I would accompany him into the forest.</p>
<p>“Oh, just a giant spider,” Fred smirked, “Ron had a nice little run in with them a couple years ago, said they tried to kill him. Don’t know if I believe him though, stupid gits always been afraid of spiders.”</p>
<p>“That’s reasonable,” I responded, imagining a giant spider taking over my beloved car, “Most people are afraid of spiders. Us muggles have a word for it you know.”</p>
<p>“A wuss?”</p>
<p>“No.” I replied, shoving him back towards the wall, “Arachnophobe.”</p>
<p>“Sounds made up.” He said, shaking his head in disbelief.</p>
<p>“Oh, and acromantula is just a totally normal word then?” I asked, crossing my arms across my chest.</p>
<p>“Yup.” He responded, tilting his head and shrugging his shoulders.</p>
<p>“I can’t go with you, you know.” I said, circling back to the original conversation, “I can’t just leave this room, what with Naomi out there wandering the castle. If someone catches us I’ll be sent home immediately, and you’d lose your best excuse to skip class.”</p>
<p>“Oh, you are way more than an excuse to skip class Gem.” He replied. My heart soared. “Anyways, I’m not daft. I have a plan to get you out of the castle without anyone noticing.”</p>
<p>“Oh god,” I sighed, “What’s this plan of yours?”</p>
<p>“Well first off, if you’re going to pretend to be a wizard, you need to act like one. We don’t say <em>Oh God</em>.”</p>
<p>“Well, what should I say instead?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.</p>
<p>“You could start by saying <em>Merlin’s Beard.” </em>He answered, “Or even <em>Godric. </em>That one might be easier, it’s a lot closer to what you do say.”</p>
<p>“There is no way I’ll ever say that.”</p>
<p>“Suit yourself,” He replied, crossing his arms across his chest, “But if that’s what gives you away as being a muggle, then I know you’ll be cursing yourself, thinking back to this exact conversation and knowing that I was right all along.”</p>
<p>I rolled my eyes and pulled my legs up onto the dormer, hugging them against my chest.</p>
<p>“So, what’s this great plan of yours?”</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>“I never promised it was a good plan.” Fred said, placing his hand over his mouth to hold back his laughter.</p>
<p>I gawked at myself in the mirror, grabbing pieces of my hair as they slowly changed from their natural, dark brown color, to a stunning hot pink.</p>
<p>“Don’t you think this is going to attract more attention to us?” I asked, turning around to see if the back was matching the front. It was. I now had hot pink hair everywhere. “I haven’t been here very long, but I know that there aren’t any students with colorful hair.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I didn’t think about that one.” He grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck.</p>
<p>“Do you have any other brilliant ideas, Weasley?” I huffed, crossing my arms across my chest and turning back towards him.</p>
<p>“Okay, umm- hear me out.” He exclaimed, putting his hands up in defense. “I could make you super, super tiny and put you in my pocket.” He closed one eye and held his hand in front of his face, closing his fingers together to demonstrate how small he actually meant. “We learned a spell a few years ago that could do that, what was it again? Reducia? Reducto? Reducio!” He exclaimed, his wand pointing towards my now shrunken nightstand.</p>
<p>“Oops.” He shrugged, reversing the spell with a quick flick of his wand.</p>
<p>“Absolutely not.” I replied, “There is no way I’m going to be small enough to fit in your pocket and <em>then</em> go into the Forbidden Forest.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, that’s probably better anyways. I think I remember that using that spell on living beings has detrimental effects. But how should I know, I’m terrible at school.” He smirked up at me and I hit him on the shoulder.</p>
<p>“Merlin Gem.” He said, rubbing his shoulder where my hand had lightly touched him. “You don’t know your own strength, do you.”</p>
<p>“Oh can it Weasley.” I replied, moving past him to sit on my bed. “If that hurt you then you are weaker than I thought.”</p>
<p>“Harsh.” He said, taking a seat next to me. His arm brushed against mine and I swore I felt sparks run up and down that side of my body. I scooted away from him, just in case.</p>
<p>“So, it’s settled then.” I said, “I’m not going with. You’re just going to have to find my car on your own.”</p>
<p>“Fine.” He replied, leaning back on my bed, “But if your car becomes the hip new hang out for acromantulas, you only have yourself to blame.”</p>
<p>He hopped off the bed and started to head for the door, yet I was still sitting there with bright pink hair that I very much did not enjoy.</p>
<p>“Wait!” I exclaimed as his hand reached for the doorknob.</p>
<p>“Changed your mind?” He smirked, turning back towards me.</p>
<p>“Umm, no.” I laughed, “But I would like my hair back to normal.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know Gem. Pink’s kinda hot.” He winked as he left the room, not giving me any time to respond.</p>
<p>Even if he did, I don’t know if I would have been clever enough to reply.</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>“I’m just confused.” Naomi said as she flipped through yet another one of her spell books later that evening, trying to find a spell that could change my hair back to its original color. This was the third spell book she had tried, and it was starting to look like I’d be stuck with pink hair the rest of my life. “Tell me again why you let Fred turn your hair pink?”</p>
<p>“I didn’t <em>let </em>Fred turn my hair pink.” I responded, rolling my eyes and throwing myself onto my bed in exasperation, “We were trying to figure out a way to disguise me so that we could fix the protection spells that <em>you </em>messed up on. This is all your fault, really.”</p>
<p>“I don’t really see how that is true.” She said, laughing slightly as she flipped to the next page of the spell book.</p>
<p>“I don’t get what’s so confusing about it!” I exclaimed, shooting her a look from across the room. I was beginning to get frustrated. It had been almost six hours since my hair turned pink, and even if Fred might like it, I personally preferred my dark hair.</p>
<p>“It’s just, I never asked Fred to go to the Forbidden Forest for me.”</p>
<p>I sat up in my bed, facing Naomi with confusion laced across my features. “What?”</p>
<p>“I know how to use protective charms, Gem.” She said, as though I was the stupid one for thinking that wasn’t the case, “They wouldn’t wear off earlier than expected. And I definitely wouldn’t trust Fred Weasley to go put new ones on it.”</p>
<p>I stared at her in disbelief. Why would Fred lie to me about something so absolutely stupid? Did he purposely make me want to suffer with this horrendous pink hair?</p>
<p>“Found it!” Naomi exclaimed, pointing excitedly at a page in her spell book. She picked her wand up off her side table and pointed it at my hair, chanting the new spell she found in her book. I grabbed a piece of my hair and watched as the pink slowly faded out of my hair and back to my original brown.</p>
<p>“Thank Merlin.” I sighed, jumping up from my bed and running over to the bathroom mirror. My hair was slowly fading back to its original color.</p>
<p>“Since when did you start talking like that?” Naomi laughed as she placed her spell books back onto the bookshelf.</p>
<p>My eyes grew wide as I realized what I had said. Hadn’t I just told Fred hours earlier that I would never speak like a wizard?</p>
<p>"I honestly didn't even realize I said it." I responded, trying to play it off as an honest mistake.</p>
<p>Naomi joined me in the bathroom and swung her arm around my shoulder, looking into the mirror with me. “Now we’re identical again!” She exclaimed. She patted my shoulder and jumped up on the counter.</p>
<p>"I think you just fell for your first official Weasley prank.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Sixth Year- One Too Many Slips of Paper</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I wish I could have seen it!” I laughed as I sat down at the foot of Naomi’s bed. She was in hysterics herself, barely able to keep herself from falling off the bed.  </p><p>All of the new students from the other schools had arrived earlier that morning, and Naomi had explained to me just how magnificent it was when each school arrived. I cursed myself for not watching from my dormer that morning, but that wasn’t even the most exciting thing that had happened that day that I missed out on. Fred and George had made absolute fools of themselves trying to enter the tournament despite the age restriction, and I very much wished that I could have been there to witness them aging almost seventy years in less than a second.</p><p>“It was honestly the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long while.” She continued, trying to stifle her laughs.</p><p>“And you really couldn’t tell them apart?” I urged, wishing that she could show me memories from her own mind like we were able to speak to each other. All I wanted was one picture of an elderly Fred, then I could die happy.</p><p>“Not one bit!” She wiped the tears out of her eyes from laughing so hard.</p><p>“It was stupid, that’s what it was,” Jules said, lifting her head out of the book she was reading, “They couldn’t possibly have thought that their plan was going to work.”</p><p>“Oh, shove off Jules.” Naomi glared at her from across the room. Naomi usually paid no mind to Jules’ criticism, but when George was thrown into the mix, Naomi was immediately defensive. Jules could say something absolutely terrible about our mum, and Naomi wouldn’t bat an eye, but say one thing bad about George, and her whole persona shifts.</p><p>“You’re just jealous you didn’t think to try to get into the tournament somehow.” She continued, “You were too busy yelling at an inanimate object.”</p><p>I raised my brow at Naomi, but she just shrugged her shoulders.</p><p>“Whatever.” Jules rolled her eyes and looked back to her book.</p><p>“Please stop fighting.” Anna said, wearing nothing but a towel as she left the bathroom, “You know I absolutely despise conflict.”</p><p>“Sorry Anna,” Naomi said genuinely, “Jules?”</p><p>“I’m not apologizing.” Jules scoffed, “I didn’t do anything.”</p><p>Anna sighed and sat down on her bed, brushing through her wet locks. “I wonder who the Hogwarts champion is going to be. I hope it’s a Gryffindor, how fun would that be? Having the whole school backing your house.”</p><p>“I know Carina put her name in the Goblet, maybe she’ll be the champion!” Naomi feigned excitement, but I knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t want any of her friends participating in the tournament.</p><p>“We’ll find out tomorrow,” Jules chimed in, barely glancing up from her book, “So there’s no use in speculating who it’s going to be.”</p><p>Naomi rolled her eyes and climbed out her four poster to get herself ready for bed, and I did the same.</p><p>“Speaking of the announcement tomorrow,” I said, pulling my loose tee shirt over my head, “I know that it’s my day for dinner, but I think you should go Naomi.”</p><p>“Absolutely not!” She said, her voice distorted from the toothbrush she was using, “We made a deal.”</p><p>“I just figured it was pretty important,” I continued, pushing past her to get into the tiny bathroom, “Don’t you want to be there for the announcement?”</p><p>“No, it’s fine!” She replied, wiping the toothpaste off her chin, “I have a lot of studying to catch up on, and I know Dumbledore’s speeches can last forever. Plus, you can just tell me who the champions are, it’s not like me being there will change the outcome.”</p><p>“Are you sure?”</p><p>“Positive.”</p><p>“Will you two please shut up.” Jules shouted from the bedroom. Anna’s bed was in view of the bathroom, and I could see the stress lines forming between her eyes.</p><p>“Shove off Jules!” Naomi and I said together.</p><p>It had been years since we spoke in unison like that, without communicating in our heads beforehand. My heart swelled at the meaning. Naomi and I were finally getting close again, even if it still felt as though I was walking on eggshells around her, trying desperately to make her want me to be around, even if I was a nuisance sometimes.</p><p>I missed having a sister.    </p><p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p><p>I sat at dinner with Fred on one side of me and George on the other. I didn’t know if it was just the lighting in the Great Hall that night or if the twins still had a bit of grey in their red hair, but whatever it was I wasn’t the only one to notice.</p><p>Lee constantly made jokes about them being too old to be doing the things that they were doing. If one of the twins went for a second serving, Lee would tell them that their heart wouldn’t be able to take any more salt, and they needed to slow down. If another twin mentioned the quidditch practice that they were having that weekend, Lee would tell them that quidditch was a young man’s sport, and that they should probably sit that one out, maybe try golf. I wasn’t sure how much longer the two could take before they snapped at Lee, but luckily, I never had to find out as Dumbledore got up from his chair, ready to announce the Triwizard Tournament champions.</p><p>Dumbledore approached the Goblet in the middle of the Great Hall, and it erupted in a red flame. The entire hall erupted in a fit of gasps, and it felt good to finally not be the only one amazed by all of the magic surrounding me.</p><p>A small ticket escaped out of the Goblet and Dumbledore caught it as it fizzled down, holding it at arm’s length so that he could read it in the light of the fire.  </p><p>“I hope it’s Angelina,” Fred said to the table, who all nodded in agreement. I nodded as well, although I honestly didn’t care who got to be the champion. I noticed Angelina sitting a few seats down, her leg bobbing up and down with nerves, but her face didn’t show it at all, as she eagerly awaited Dumbledore’s announcement.</p><p>“The Durmstrang champion,” Dumbledore exclaimed, and the entire hall fell silent, awaiting the announcement of the very first champion.</p><p>“Viktor Krum.”</p><p>The entire Great Hall erupted in cheers as Krum stood up from his seat, waving to his adoring fans. Naomi had told me that there was a famous quidditch player at one of the other schools, and something about the expression on Ron’s face told me that this was him. He clearly knew how to work a room.</p><p>The cheering died down as Krum left the Great Hall and the Goblet once again erupted in flames. This time the students in the hall were silent as the slip floated into Dumbledore’s hands.</p><p>“The Beauxbaton champion will be Ms. Fleur Delacour.”</p><p>A gorgeous girl with silvery blonde hair stood from the Ravenclaw table and walked toward the same door that Krum had exited through. I could see the disappointed look on all the other students from Beauxbaton as she left the table. Some of them were even sobbing into each other’s shoulders.</p><p>By now, every student in the Great Hall was holding their breath, anticipation high as they waited for the Goblet to erupt one last time. Every eye was staring intently towards the center of the Great Hall, necks craning to get a better view, as if they wanted to be the first to read the name of the Hogwarts champion.</p><p>Finally, the Goblet of Fire erupted again into the brilliant red flame, indicating that the last champion had been chosen.</p><p>“The Hogwarts champion,” Dumbledore said with a hint of pride in his voice, “Will be Cedric Diggory.”</p><p> The entire Hufflepuff table stood up and cheered, and I watched as Cedric left the table, grinning from ear to ear. I looked down the table once again at Angelina and noticed the disappointed look on her face as she stared intently at the empty plate in front of her. In fact, most of the Gryffindor’s looked disappointed. I couldn’t blame them though, they were supposed to be the house of bravery, it didn’t look good for them that none of their students had been selected to compete in the competition.</p><p>Once the cheering had died down from the Hufflepuff table, Dumbledore began to make his closing announcement, but before he was able to finish, the Goblet of Fire erupted once more, for the fourth time that night.</p><p>“Harry Potter.” Dumbledore said, reading the fourth slip of paper that the Goblet had spit out.</p><p>I knew the name, if only because he was Fred’s youngest brother's best friend. I also knew that he was much younger than all the other people who had put their names in the Goblet, unless he had somehow been held back a few years and was much older than he let on. Even then, the Hogwarts champion had already been decided.</p><p>“I thought he was only a fourth year?” I whispered to Fred.</p><p>“He is.” Fred whispered back, dumbstruck, staring down at the younger boy who had a similar expression on his face. “I have to ask him how he did it.” Fred continued, “And why he didn’t clue me in on the secret.”</p><p>Something about the way Harry was composing himself made me believe that Harry had no idea how he did it either, but I could tell that Ron wasn’t picking up on that at all. He looked angry at Harry, and he wouldn’t even wish him luck as he got up from the table to head to the champion’s chambers.</p><p>Once Harry left the room, Dumbledore dismissed the students and he and the rest of the teachers entered the back room. I hoped, for Harry’s sake, that they would go easy on him. It was clear to me that Harry had no intention of putting his name in the Goblet, so it must have just been a fluke.</p><p>“Do you think he’s gonna drop out?” I asked the twins as we walked back to the common room.</p><p>“Why would he do that?” George asked, confused.</p><p>“It’s just, he didn’t seem like he wanted to compete.”</p><p>“Everyone wanted to compete, Gem.” Fred said, “He was just smart enough to actually get his name in there.”</p><p>“I can’t believe him.” Ron muttered to Hermione as they walked past us, “I’m supposed to be his best friend! How could he keep this a secret from me?”</p><p>Hermione rolled her eyes and ignored his question.</p><p>“I have to talk to Harry.” Fred said as we entered the common room. He was determined to get the answer.</p><p>I saw Jules sitting on the couch by the fireplace and could tell she was upset. As much as I didn’t like her, I did feel bad that she would be turning 17 just two days after the announcement. I said goodnight to Fred and George and went to sit next to her on the couch.</p><p>“Are you okay?” I asked as I sat on the empty cushion next to her.</p><p>“Why do you care?” she said, rolling her eyes and turning away from me.</p><p>“I just figured you must be a bit upset about the recent news, I wanted to see if you were okay.”</p><p>Jules looked over at me, her face mixed with confusion and possibly a little disgust, “We aren’t friends.” She said in a monotone voice, “You don’t have to talk to me. Naomi and I are friends, you and I are not.”</p><p>“Fine.” I said, getting up from the couch. I wasn’t going to try to be her friend any longer, because she clearly didn’t want to be mine. I started to head upstairs to tell Naomi about the exciting events of that night when Fred called after me.</p><p>“What’s up?” I asked.</p><p>“Lee’s going to be gone tomorrow night, he has detention again with Flitwick, so George told me to ask you and Naomi to come hang out in our dorm. You down?”</p><p>“Sure!” I exclaimed, it had been weeks since we all hung out, just the four of us. “Naomi and I will be there!”</p><p>Just then the common room portrait swung open and Harry entered the room. I didn’t want to be down there for his interrogation, and I could tell he didn’t want to be there either. But I for one had a choice, so I quickly turned around and went up the stairs to my dorm.</p><p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p><p>“You really think the first task is something to do with dragons?” Naomi asked George the next night.</p><p>We were all sitting in the twin’s dorm, discussing our ideas for the first task. Fred and George had just told us that their older brother Charlie had visited that past summer, which they thought was peculiar since he normally only visited for holidays.</p><p>“I don’t <em>think</em> so, Nom,” George said, brushing a piece of hair that had fallen to her face behind her ear, “I <em>know</em> so.”</p><p>“Well if the two of you are so confident about this information, don’t you think you should tell Harry?” I asked. I knew that Harry already had a disadvantage in this competition, being three years younger than the rest of his competitors. The least we could do was help him through it.</p><p>“I’ll tell him as soon as he tells me how he got his name in the Goblet of Fire.” Fred stated, and I shoved his shoulder. He knew that Harry knew just as much as he did when it came to his name being placed in the competition, but Fred just couldn’t let it go.</p><p>“Exactly,” George said, bracing himself for a similar hit from Naomi that never actually came, “I’m still traumatized from ageing 70 years in three seconds.”</p><p>Naomi and I exchanged a concerned look.</p><p><strong><em>Someone has to tell him</em></strong> I thought to her, not wanting the twins to contribute to this particular conversation.</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Well I can’t! I barely know the kid, and you certainly can’t for the exact same reason.</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>“Will you two please stop that.” George asked, but Naomi just smirked at him.</p><p>“Stop what?” she said, with a twinkle in her eye.</p><p>“Can we please make a rule that there is to be no secret twin powers used in this dorm room?”</p><p>“No, I don’t think we can.” I said, shaking my head back and forth.</p><p>“Yeah, I’m gonna have to agree with Gem on this one.” Naomi replied.</p><p>“What if we agree to tell Harry?” George asked.</p><p>I looked over to Naomi and together we said: “Nope.”</p><p>“Hey!” Fred whined, “We’re supposed to be the only twins that talk in unison.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s our thing!” George added.</p><p>“Oops.” Naomi and I said, together again. We both started to laugh as the boys pouted on their beds, their arms crossed over their chests.</p><p>“Fine, we won’t tell Harry then.” Fred stated, jutting out his chin and turning away from us.</p><p>“He has a month.” Naomi stated, leaning her head on George’s shoulder, “I’m sure Ron will figure it out eventually and tell him.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Sixth Year- Fire-Breathing Dragons and Damsels in Distress</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey Guys!</p><p>So sorry it's been a while since I uploaded, but I promise there will be more consistent updates coming soon!</p><p>I decided to try Fred's point of view for this chapter, and I may have gotten a bit carried away, so it is significantly longer than any of the previous chapters. </p><p>I hope you guys like it!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Fred</strong>
</p><p>The first task of the Triwizard tournament did in fact involve dragons, just as George and I had suspected. I did feel slightly bad that I never let Harry in on this specific insider knowledge (that I so cleverly figured out all on my own without the help of anyone else (especially George)) But Ron eventually got over himself and told Harry— or, had other people tell Harry for him. It was all a bit confusing and entirely too complicated.</p><p>I would never let Gem know that I was slightly regretting my decision to keep the information to myself.</p><p>I couldn’t give her that sort of satisfaction.</p><p>It wasn’t fair that she had to sit up in her dorm, all alone, while the rest of the student body got to watch what could possibly be the most exciting thing to happen at Hogwarts in centuries. I would make it up to her somehow though. She deserved to have the full Hogwarts experience, dragons and all.</p><p>As George and I began to collect bets for the tournament, I kept that thought in the back of my head. How could I come up with something so exciting that missing out on dragons wouldn’t seem so terrible?</p><p>I’d figure it out eventually.</p><p>“You guys really have to gamble on today of all days?” Naomi sighed as she sat down next to George in the stands.</p><p>“Of course, love.” George said, leaning over to kiss her cheek. <em>Disgusting.</em></p><p>“We have to make it exciting for us spectators.” I added, trying my hardest to pay attention to the stadium and not the two of them. Don’t get me wrong, I love them both, but I could do without their constant show of affection. It’s revolting, honestly.</p><p>“As if the dragons weren’t exciting enough?” She said, raising her brow.</p><p>“It’s even more exciting when you personally have something to gain from someone else winning.” George said as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.</p><p>“Fine then,” she said, rolling her eyes, “I just don’t like you betting on people’s lives.”</p><p>“It’s not on their lives, Nom.” I shouted over the crowd. The champions were making their way to the tents now, and the crowd was exploding with excitement.</p><p>“They wouldn’t let someone die in this tournament.” I added.</p><p>“Exactly,” George chimed in, “It’s all in good fun. You should put some money on it! Krum’s got the best odds, but if Fleur can pull through and win this thing, you could win big!”</p><p>“I think I’ll just watch.” She replied as she laid her head on George’s shoulder. My own was feeling particularly bare, but I ignored it.</p><p>The tournament began and one by one each champion retrieved their golden eggs, but I couldn’t help but think about what Gem was doing all alone in the castle. I had the most exciting tournament happening right before my eyes, and yet the only thing I could think about was what shirt Gemma was wearing, and whether or not it looked nice with her rich, brown eyes. (I’m sure it did. I don’t think there was a single thing she could wear that wouldn’t compliment her eyes)</p><p>I thought about the way she absentmindedly bit her fingernails while reading the other day and how mesmerized I was by this simple action, and how I would much rather watch her bite her fingernails than watch my fellow students fight actual dragons.</p><p>Mental. She was driving me absolutely mental.</p><p>And she didn’t even have to do anything at all.</p><p>George nudged my side as Jordan announced that Harry was about to step into the stadium. He was up against a Hungarian Horntail, which Charlie had told me was the most dangerous out of the four dragons. Figures Harry would be the one to have to face it.</p><p>Tough luck, that one.</p><p>The first few moments of Harry’s round were agonizing to watch. He didn’t seem to know what he was planning to do to retrieve his egg. I had placed my highest bet on the fact that Harry would take the longest to retrieve the egg. Roger Davies bet that Delacour would take the longest, and I’d be damned if that Ravenclaw beat me.</p><p>When Harry used the summoning charm to call for his broom, I knew I was going to be winning my bet. Delacour did take a long while to retrieve her egg, but Harry was planning on flying away, and that was proof enough for me.</p><p>Maybe I could win enough to take Gem to Hogsmeade. If I could somehow get her out of the castle without anyone noticing.</p><p>Harry hopped onto his broom when it arrived, flying out of the arena, taunting the dragon to follow, which it happily did, breaking out of his chains and chasing Harry on his broom. I saw Davies’ jaw tense up from across the stadium. The prize money was all mine.</p><p>“Well done dragon!” I screamed as it flew after Harry, but my excitement was short lived as I saw Harry fly towards the castle. My stomach lurched at the thought of Gem sitting in her dormer as a fire-breathing dragon flew full speed towards her. I had to do something.</p><p>“Gemma’s in there.” I told George, a sense of urgency in my voice, “I have to help her!”</p><p>“You can’t!” George responded, “You’ll forfeit all your bets if you leave before the task is finished!”</p><p>He was right, and I hated the idea of Davies winning by default, but there was absolutely no way that he could convince me to stay. I just couldn’t stop thinking about Gem as she sat in what could possibly be the worst place to sit, not knowing that her life was in danger.</p><p>I quickly ran down the stairs of the arena as George called after me, pushing through crowds of students whose heads were all turned towards the castle. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew I had to go to Gemma and make sure she was safe.</p><p>I was stopped by Professor McGonagall before I was able to exit the arena.</p><p>“Mr. Weasley, it is far too dangerous for you to leave this arena right now.” She said, blocking me from the exit, “You do realize that there is a dragon on the loose, don’t you?”</p><p>“Yes!” I shouted at her, a little too loudly, “That’s actually why I was leaving.”</p><p>I didn’t wait to hear her response. I pushed past her and turned towards the castle. Harry and the dragon were already flying through the turrets, and every time they got close to Gryffindor tower, my heart pounded against my chest even harder than it had before.</p><p>My feet carried me to where I needed to be, and I ignored the burning in my chest as I climbed the hundreds of staircases to the portrait hole.</p><p>The only thing I was worried about was whether or not Gem was safe.</p><p>I didn’t care that it hurt to breathe. I just had to know that she was okay.</p><p>I tumbled through the portrait hole, pulling off my shoes as I began to cast the enchantment that had become second nature at that point, but a familiar voice pulled me toward the couches, and I dropped my shoe on the floor.</p><p>“What are you doing back already?” Gem asked. She was laying down across the couch, her headphones on her shoulder, her hair tied up in a messy bun. Her face was mixed with what seemed to be confusion and possibly a hint of amusement, mostly focused on me.</p><p>I did look ridiculous. My hair was pointing out every which way, and I only had one shoe on, not to mention my staggered breathing, and if she could feel my heartbeat right now she would send me to the hospital wing immediately.</p><p> “There was a- a dragon, and Harry, and—” It hurt to speak as I began to feel the consequence of sprinting all the way to Gryffindor tower from the arena. My throat was on fire.</p><p>She laughed and motioned for me to come sit with her on the couch as she pulled her legs up to her chest. I bent down to grab my shoe I had dropped, trying to put it on as I hopped over towards her.</p><p>“I know.” She said as I sat on the cushion in front of her, “I saw the dragon flying towards the castle. I didn’t think my dormer would be the safest place to be during a dragon attack. Naomi was gonna let me know when she was on her way back so I could hide again.”</p><p>I wondered if Naomi knew all this before or after I ran out of the stadium and forfeited all of my bets. I was hoping it was the latter, but Naomi didn’t care much for gambling, so I wouldn’t put it past her to keep that information from me.</p><p>“What were you planning on doing when you got here?” Gem asked, letting a small laugh slip out, “Save me from a fire breathing dragon?”</p><p>I realized in that moment that I hadn’t any idea what I planned on doing once I got to the dorm, I just knew that I had to be sure that she was safe.</p><p>“Do I not look like a knight in shining armor?” I asked, pulling my shoulders back and placing my hands on my hips.</p><p>
  <em>Stupid. Now she thinks you’re a total loser.</em>
</p><p>“Not particularly,” She said, leaning back into the arm of the couch and swinging her legs up onto my lap. Okay, maybe she didn’t think I was a loser after all. “Though,” She continued, “I don’t particularly fit the whole <em>damsel in distress </em>trope either.”</p><p>“I don’t know, pretty maiden up in a tower, a fire-breathing dragon on the loose? Kinda fits you to a tee.”</p><p>“Pretty?” She said, raising her eyebrows.</p><p>“Did I say pretty?” I asked, mustering up any courage that I could find, “I meant gorgeous.”</p><p>“Oh.” She replied, seeming to be taken aback.</p><p>
  <em>Me too.</em>
</p><p>“You know,” I said, trying to push past whatever that was, “You’re taking this whole dragon thing pretty well for a muggle.”</p><p>“I’m not your typical muggle.” She smiled, shrugging her shoulders.</p><p>She was right. She wasn’t like any muggle I had ever met before. She was so, so much better.</p><p>“Shouldn’t you head back to the tournament? Won’t you lose all of your bets if you aren’t there for the end?”</p><p>I shrugged, placing my arm on the top of the couch and leaning in closer to her, “I’d much rather spend a few minutes here with you before everyone comes back.”</p><p>“I won’t argue with that.” She replied, sitting up on the couch. Her legs were still intertwined on mine, so the movement pulled my body even closer than it had been before.</p><p>Our faces mere centimeters apart.</p><p>I took a moment to examine every tiny detail on her face, though I had done it hundreds of times before up in her dorm. The way her left eyebrow was raised slightly higher than her right, with the faintest memory of a scar cutting through the dark hairs. Her eyes were painted with a light shadow, and a sharp liner accentuated the deep brown of her eyes. There was a small mole just below her lip. Naomi didn’t have that one. It was one of the things I had worried would give Gem away, but George said that I was the only one who would notice. Though, I couldn’t see why no one else would pay as much attention to her as I did. I just couldn’t seem to look away.</p><p>My heart was beating against my chest.</p><p>I’d been in situations like this before— many, <em>many</em> times before. Bodies intertwined together, a certain tension building between two parties. But it was different with her. I wanted whatever it was that we had to be so much more special than all the other times before.</p><p>I wanted whatever we had to mean something more. To <em>be</em> something more.</p><p>“Shit.” Gem exclaimed suddenly, hopping up from the couch and gathering all of her things that she had scattered on the coffee table, “Nom said the tournament is over, everyone is gonna be here any minute.”</p><p>“Bugger,” I replied, standing up from the couch, “I was just getting comfortable.”</p><p>“No, umm— you stay down here.” She stuttered. I cocked my eyebrow, but she just shook her head as she ran upstairs, leaving me alone in the common room as the rest of the Gryffindors began to flood in, excited about the tournament.</p><p>I listened as everyone talked about what had happened after I left. How Harry had retrieved his egg and placed second, right below Cedric in first place, meaning Hogwarts was the top school.</p><p>I should have been excited. I was excited. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Gem leaving so quickly. After we had gotten so close. Maybe I was the only one who felt the things I was feeling.</p><p>No— there was no way.</p><p>All I could think about was Gemma. In my lessons, during quidditch practice, when I laid awake at night staring at the ceiling.</p><p>If she didn’t feel the same, then I don’t know how I could go on.</p><p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p><p>Gryffindors were infamous for throwing a party for any sort of occasion (one time, George and I threw the biggest party of fourth year, all because the kitchens had served chocolate cake with dinner), and this was definitely cause for celebration.</p><p>Luckily for me (and not so lucky for George), Naomi was upset that George had placed so many bets on the tournament, so she chose to spend her night in her dorm, which meant that Gemma was able to attend her very first Gryffindor party.</p><p>It also meant that I got to spend even more time with her, and this time it was outside of her small dorm. I never thought I would get sick of being in a girls room, but her dorm seemed to be suffocating the both of us.</p><p>George had to hang out with Gemma all night, since Lee was still down at the party. I wished that George would just tell him. It would make Gem’s life here so much easier if she could just be herself, at least during meal times. And it would make my life so much easier too. I could talk to someone who wasn’t George about how I was feeling. I could never tell George, he would just make fun of me for falling for the girl who looks identical to his girlfriend (though they really aren’t that identical, if you are paying attention)</p><p>I could tell that Gem wasn’t having the best time down at the party, especially since Hermione continued to bother her about the Potions exam coming up that apparently Naomi had never finished studying for earlier that week. I wanted to tell Hermione that this was a party and no one wanted to worry about Snape’s class, but I held my tongue. Gem was supposed to be playing the part of <em>George’s</em> girlfriend, he should be the one to say something to Hermione.</p><p>“Honestly Naomi,” Hermione spat, rolling her eyes, “It’s like you’ve forgotten every single thing that you’ve learned over the past six years.”</p><p>“Sorry,” Gem said, shrugging her shoulders, “I just can’t think straight right now.”</p><p>“You haven’t been drinking, have you?” Hermione asked. She knew that Naomi didn’t like to drink at school, but to Hermione, that was the only possible explanation for why she was so far behind in class.</p><p>“Leave her be Hermione.” George finally said, pulling Gem closer. I felt something tug in my chest, and I found myself wishing that I was the one holding her close to me like that.</p><p>“Fine, but if you fail the Potions exam don’t blame me.”</p><p>Hermione walked away and I looked over to George and Gemma, “What’s her problem?”</p><p>“It’s fine,” Gem said, pulling herself away from George, “I think I’m gonna head upstairs, I’m getting a bit tired.”</p><p>“No!” I said, a bit too enthusiastically, “Umm, you haven’t even tried any of the drinks. They’re much better than muggle drinks, I promise you that.”</p><p>Before Gem was able to agree to anything, Lee tumbled over to us, basically tripping over himself. I looked over at George and we exchanged a similar look.</p><p>“Alright Lee,” George said, standing up to help our roommate, “I think it’s time you head upstairs.”</p><p>“What, no! I’m fine-” But before he could try and convince either one of us that this was true, he threw up all over his robes.</p><p>“Nasty.” Gemma muttered, backing as far away from Lee as she could.</p><p>“I’ll go clean you up.” George said, rolling his eyes.</p><p>“I can help.” I volunteered, though I tried to send secret signals to George that would tell him that I meant the exact opposite.</p><p>“No that’s okay, you can stay down here with Naomi, show her how us wizards like to party.” George winked at me before he turned around, but thankfully Gem was too focused on not throwing up herself that she didn’t seem to notice.</p><p>“Want to try some butterbeer?” I asked, trying to distract her from the mess. I flicked my wand behind me with a quick <em>scourgify</em> before ushering Gem to the couch far from where we had been standing.</p><p>George helped Lee up the stairs to our dorm, and I could finally spend time with Gemma, and maybe even bring up that afternoon again. Everyone else at the party was either too drunk or too daft to notice that I wasn’t George, which meant that I could hang out with her out in the open and not raise any suspicion. We spent most of the night sitting by the fire, chatting about school and our lives outside of Hogwarts. It was nice to be able to talk to her outside of her bedroom.</p><p>Eventually she stood up from the couch and held out her hand for me to grab.</p><p>“What’s going on?” I asked as she pulled me over to the table.</p><p>“I thought you were going to show me how you wizards throw a party?”</p><p>“Oh,” I smirked at her, she must have noticed more than I thought she did. I walked with her over to the table and grabbed one of the bottles of fire whiskey, “If you really want to party like a wizard, you have to try this.”</p><p>I poured her a shot of the fire whiskey and then one for myself.</p><p>We both tapped the shot on the table and threw it back. I could tell that this wasn’t her first time.</p><p>She squeezed her face together in disgust, and I figured she would be done with the fire whiskey after that. I started to pour her a butterbeer, but instead she took the bottle of fire whiskey off of the table and took a large swig out of it.</p><p>“Blimey Gem, I didn’t take you as a big drinker.”</p><p>“Then you clearly don’t know me at all!” She laughed as she took another swig, eventually finishing off the rest of the bottle.</p><p>“Come dance with me!” She exclaimed, grabbing my hand and pulling me out into the open space in the common room. Her body moved to the rhythm of the song playing. I was in a trance, watching her move so effortlessly around the common room, grabbing my hand and spinning around underneath it.</p><p>“What is this song?” She screamed at me, much louder than she needed to be which made a few of the other students turn their heads in confusion.</p><p>“It’s the Weird Sisters.” I laughed as she jumped around to the music.</p><p>“But they’re all boys?”</p><p>“Hey! Don’t discriminate!” I teased as she flipped her hair around, continuing to move her body to the rhythm of the music. I couldn’t help but stare. She was absolutely gorgeous in the dim lighting of the common room. The way she moved without a care in the world drew me in, and I suddenly felt as though we were the only two people in the room.</p><p>When the song ended, the mood started to die down on the dance floor as the next song was one not many students had heard before (it was probably a muggle song, since most of the muggleborns were still dancing along), so she pulled me off into the corner of the common room.</p><p>“I really like you Fred.” She said as we sat down on the chair, snuggling closer to me than she had ever been before.</p><p>“You’re drunk.” I laughed, pushing her hair out of her face, and wrapping my arm tightly around her shoulder. On the outside, I was playing it totally cool, but on the inside my stomach felt like it was going to explode. She likes me. Like, actually likes me.</p><p>“That doesn’t mean I was lying.”</p><p>“I like you too.” I replied, smiling down at her.</p><p>“No, I realllly like you. More than I’ve liked someone in a long time.”</p><p>I could feel my face begin to turn red, something it had never done before. I tried to hide it from her, but even in her drunken state, she was still able to pick up on it.</p><p>“Oh, Freddie, are you blushing?”</p><p>“Oh, shut it.” I said, playfully squeezing her shoulder.</p><p>“I never got a chance to thank you, you know, for saving my life from the scary dragon.” I knew she was teasing me, but the way she was looking at me made my heart skip a beat.</p><p>“It was nothing I—” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because I suddenly felt her finger on my lips, shushing me.</p><p>“Shhhh…. I WANT to thank you for saving me.” She said, removing her finger from my lips and stroking the side of my face, her own face even closer than it had been earlier on the couch. “I think I’m going to kiss you now.”</p><p>My mind was racing, and my heart was beating at 100 kilometers per hour. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to kiss her so badly, ever since we first started hanging out only a few short months ago. But I couldn’t let our first kiss be a drunken one that she would forget about in the morning. As much as it pained me to say it, I had to tell her that I couldn’t kiss her. At least not right now.</p><p>“Oh,” she said, in the most pathetic whimper I had ever heard. It broke my heart, but I knew I was doing the right thing. “Do you not like me like that?”</p><p>“I absolutely do like you like that, Gem. I like you so much, that I can’t imagine our first kiss being a memory only I can have. But ask me again when you’re sober.”</p><p>“Fine then, I will.” She smirked before letting out a huge yawn.</p><p>She leaned her head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arms around her. I knew she wouldn’t remember anything in the morning, and that was fine with me, I was glad to keep this memory to myself.</p><p>­</p><p>
  <strong> Gemma </strong>
</p><p>I woke up the morning after the party with a pounding headache. The sun was shining directly in my face, making my headache ten times worse. I pulled the covers over my head and groaned as I turned away from the sun.</p><p>“Rough night?” I heard Naomi laugh from over in her bed.</p><p>“Mmhmm.”</p><p>“George told me you drank an entire bottle of fire whiskey. I’m surprised you’re even alive at this point. Wizard alcohol is a lot stronger than normal alcohol.”</p><p>“Thanks for the concern.” I muttered, my head buried in my pillow. I was not in the mood to talk. I just wanted to sleep forever.</p><p>“Everyone just went downstairs for lunch if you want to join them. George was gonna wait in the common room for a few extra minutes in case you decided to wake up.”</p><p>I laid in bed for a bit, wondering whether or not lunch was a good idea, but eventually decided that I would have to get up eventually, and I was a bit hungry. I quickly got out of bed and threw on some of Naomi’s clothes and went to meet George in the common room.</p><p>“You look great.” George joked as we walked to the Great Hall.</p><p>I rolled my eyes at him, which was not a good idea for my headache. The pain from my head made my stomach queasy, but I tried my hardest to ignore it as we walked into the Great Hall. I looked up from the ground and my eyes focused on our usual spot at the Gryffindor table. Fred was already there, and I noticed his face turning a light shade of red when he saw me.</p><p><em>I wonder what that’s about.</em> I thought to no one in particular.</p><p>“What’s wrong with you?” Lee asked as I sat down at the table, “You were perfectly cheery at breakfast this morning, you even made fun of me for being hungover.”</p><p>“I guess I was still a bit drunk at breakfast then.” I said, trying to cover for the fact that Naomi and I were two very different people today.</p><p>Lee eyed me suspiciously before jumping up from his seat, “Shit!” He exclaimed, gathering up his things that were sprawled across the table, “I forgot I’m supposed to meet Johnson in the library. We have to work on our project for transfiguration.” He quickly ran out of the Great Hall, which allowed me to release the tension I didn’t even know that I was holding.</p><p>“You really shouldn’t have risked it, coming to lunch in your state.” Jules snarled from across the table. I could tell by her tone that she didn’t really care whether or not I was caught.</p><p>“Girl’s gotta eat Jules, especially after a night like last.” Fred said, defending me, although I knew that Jules was right, I just didn’t realize how hungover I really was until I climbed out of bed and made my way downstairs.</p><p>“Maybe she’s right, I don’t think I can eat anything right now, I honestly think I’m just going to head back to bed.” I looked over to George, hoping that he would offer to take me back upstairs, because I didn’t know if I would be able to make it through the moving staircases in my state.</p><p>“Don’t look at me.” He said with a mouthful of food, and Jules rolled her eyes next to him.</p><p>“I’ll walk you back upstairs, Gem.” Fred said, standing up from the table.</p><p>I stood up from the table a bit too quickly, but Fred grabbed my arm, helping me gain back my balance.</p><p>“So, about last night…” Fred said as we left the Great Hall.</p><p>“I honestly could not tell you a thing that happened last night Fred. It’s all a blur after I—” Suddenly, panic washed over my face as the events of last night came flooding back to me. “Oh my god.” I looked over to Fred and saw a smirk on his face, “I tried to kiss you!”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“But you said no?”</p><p>“Also, yes.”</p><p>“I’m so sorry!” I said, grabbing his shoulder, “I wasn’t in the right headspace; I had no idea what I was saying.”</p><p>“I know, that’s why I said no. I didn’t want you to regret anything.”</p><p>“I don’t think I would have regretted it.”</p><p>Fred looked at me, a small smile forming on his lips, “I know. I just didn’t want our first kiss to be a drunken one.”</p><p>“Oh.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Fred Weasley wanted to kiss me back. And he wanted to do it multiple times. I would have kissed him right then and there, had it not been for the fact that the excitement might have caused my lunch and the contents of last night to spill out onto Fred’s robes.</p><p>“I’ll see you around Walters.” Fred said dropping me off at the bottom of the staircase.</p><p>“See ya Weasley.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Sixth Year- A Golden Snitch in the Snow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next weekend I sat up in my dorm as usual, listening to everyone talk about the Yule Ball that was only a few short weeks away. I tried not to let it bother me that I wasn’t going to be able to go, but I couldn’t help it. It was beginning to feel like I was a prisoner in this school. A prisoner that absolutely no one knew about except for a select few.</p>
<p>Despite this feeling of jealousy towards my roommates, I still enjoyed hearing about the ball. Naomi had been talking about George’s extravagant proposal, though she thought it was unnecessary, considering she had been planning on going with him the moment the ball was announced. But we all knew that George would never pass up an opportunity to showcase to the entire school that she was his.</p>
<p>It was adorable, really. And not at all upsetting.  </p>
<p>What was truly upsetting was the fact that Fred asked Angelina to be his date in study hall earlier in the week. When Naomi told me that evening, I felt like I had been hit with a ton of bricks. I should have expected it. There was no way he could go with me, and he couldn’t just go stag. I had to sit for a moment when she told me. I couldn’t get the image of another girl draped on his arm out of my head.</p>
<p>It was pathetic.</p>
<p>“He would go with you if he could.” Naomi said, sitting beside me. I quickly hopped off the bed, breathing steady breaths as I collected my thoughts.</p>
<p>“Why would you say that?” I asked, busying myself with whatever I could find, to avoid the conversation at hand.</p>
<p>“Because you <em>obviously </em>fancy him.” She replied, grabbing the pillow I had been incessantly fluffing out of my hand, “And he clearly fancies you too.”</p>
<p>“I do <em>not </em>fancy him.” I stated.</p>
<p>Naomi didn’t press the issue any further, which I was grateful for. She was right, I did fancy Fred, but no one else had to know that. That was between me and myself. It was my problem to solve.</p>
<p>Fred’s date to the dance wasn’t the only thing we found ourselves discussing. Who was going with who seemed to be the only thing that we could talk about.</p>
<p>“Do you have a date yet?” Naomi asked Jules from across the room that Saturday afternoon.</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” she said while examining her nails, obviously not caring for the conversation at all. I didn’t blame her, I was getting tired of the topic as well. “Zabini asked me the other day, but he’s a fourth year, so I obviously had to turn him down.”</p>
<p>“Not to mention he hates anyone who isn’t pureblood.” Naomi scoffed from her bed, “And he’s a Slytherin.”</p>
<p>“I think that Kendric Riggs is going to ask me,” Jules continued, still not looking up from her nails, “I heard a few fifth years talking about it in the halls.”</p>
<p>“Jules!” Naomi exclaimed, practically jumping out of her bed, “He’s so cute! And he’s a seventh year!”</p>
<p>“He’s a bit short.”</p>
<p>“He’s like six-foot Jules, that’s pretty tall.”</p>
<p>“Nom, that’s two whole inches shorter than me.” She replied, a look of disgust plastered across her face, “I’m wearing heels to the dance, I can’t tower over him.”</p>
<p>“You’ll tower over almost everyone in heels, Jules.” Naomi stated.</p>
<p>“Not Fred.” Jules replied. My heart skipped a bit at the mention of his name.</p>
<p>Did Jules have a crush on Fred?</p>
<p>“I wish he hadn’t asked Angelina.” She pouted, leaning back on her bed, “He’s the perfect height, and I think his red hair would complement my white perfectly.”</p>
<p>No, she didn’t have a crush on him. She just wanted to use him for her own selfish reasons.</p>
<p>“Well, he did ask Angelina.” I spat, more aggressively than I had planned. Jules glared at me from across the dorm.</p>
<p>“I don’t recall asking for your opinion. Gem.” She snarled.</p>
<p>I flipped her off, I couldn’t help myself. She was just so infuriating. “What’s your problem Jules?”</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Please don’t do this Gem. I’m begging you.</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>I looked over to Naomi and subtly shook my head.</p>
<p>“You’re my problem.” Jules retorted, crossing her long legs beneath her on her bed, “I was supposed to have a perfectly good year, and now I have to protect your sorry arse from getting caught. You’re lucky that Naomi is one of my best friends, or else you would have been sent back to your pathetic little muggle life months ago.”</p>
<p>Just as I was about to scream back at Jules about how I never asked her to protect me, there was a knock on our bedroom door. Naomi stood up from her bed, placing the pillow she had been clutching back on the sheets before walking over to the door. Before she turned the knob, she stared pointedly at the both of us.</p>
<p>“Fred!” She exclaimed, opening the door wider to let him in. He stood there in the doorway, hair ruffled beneath his winter hat, jacket zipped halfway up his chest with a scarf that matched the exact pattern of his hat draped carelessly over his shoulders. I had to take a moment to catch my breath before I got up to greet him. He was so effortlessly gorgeous.</p>
<p>“What’s going on?” I asked, nodding to the broomstick he had been holding that was now leaning against our bedroom wall.</p>
<p>“You know how a few weeks ago we were talking about quidditch?”</p>
<p>“You’re gonna have to be more specific than that, Freddie.” I replied, “You tend to talk about quidditch a lot.”</p>
<p>“I meant the time when you told me you didn’t know a thing about it.”</p>
<p>“Right. Yes I remember.”</p>
<p>“Well,” He paused, looking at the other girls in the room before continuing on, “I thought today would be the perfect day to teach you.”</p>
<p>I stared at him in disbelief before turning to look out the window. It had snowed all night, leaving a thick coating of snow across the entire campus, including the quidditch pitch. Not to mention it was freezing. I had no intention of venturing out into the frozen tundra, but if it meant I got to spend the afternoon with Fred, I figured I could suck it up for a while.</p>
<p>“Okay, yeah.” I said after thinking it over for a bit, “Sounds fun.”</p>
<p>“Really?” He exclaimed, then seemed to calm down quickly, “I mean, cool. Yeah, it’s whatever.”</p>
<p>I laughed softly and shook my head, kneeling besides Naomi’s trunk to find as many winter clothes as I could. I wasn’t going outside unprotected. The warmth that filled my cheeks whenever I spoke with Fred wasn’t going to be enough to save me from hypothermia.</p>
<p><strong>Sorry I never taught you about quidditch. </strong>Naomi thought to me as we rummaged through her trunk.</p>
<p><strong>Don’t worry about it. </strong>I responded while pulling her knit cap over my head. It was red and gold, for Gryffindor.</p>
<p>
  <strong>You can’t deny it though. Fred Weasley <em>fancies </em>you.</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>Shut it.</strong>
</p>
<p>Naomi tossed one of her jumpers at my face, and as it fell to my feet, I caught the slightest grin on Fred’s face behind her, but he quickly shifted his gaze. I stuck my tongue out at Naomi as I pulled the jumper over my head, smoothing it out around my hips and pulling her winter jacket over my sleeves. After that I followed with two separate pairs of socks and the heaviest pair of boots Naomi owned.</p>
<p>“Ready?” Fred asked as I twisted a scarf around my neck.</p>
<p>“Ready.” I responded, grabbing the gloves Naomi was holding out for me.</p>
<p>As we walked through the castle and out onto the quidditch pitch, I was beginning to regret my decision to go along with Fred’s idea. The wind was beginning to pick up, sending a piercing cold against my face. The only benefit to the chilling wind was the way it was making Fred’s cheeks flush a light pink. Wind burn looked good on him.</p>
<p>As we entered the pitch, I couldn’t help but stare in awe of the arena. It was unlike any stadium I had ever been too. Multiple towers stood high above me, with six large hoops, three on each side of the field. Fred caught my expression and smirked beside me.</p>
<p>“Imagine next year, you sitting up in the stands, cheering me on as I win the house cup for our final year.” Fred said, gesturing wildly to the stands above us.</p>
<p>“Next year?” I asked, suddenly feeling a twisting feeling in my stomach. I hadn’t thought about next year much, but I knew that it was going to be next to impossible to convince my parents to let me go on another year long trip, meaning the probability of me returning to Hogwarts was next to none. Fred caught the hint of sadness in my tone and looked down at me.</p>
<p>“I forgot for a second that you weren’t a witch.” He stated before settling down in the snow beside me, opening the trunk he had grabbed on our way out of the castle.</p>
<p>Neither of us said anything for a while as Fred set up his case that seemed to contain all the things needed to play quidditch. I didn’t want to think about leaving him here next year. Sure, I could send him letters by owl, but it wouldn’t be the same as spending every available moment I had by his side.</p>
<p>“Okay!” Fred exclaimed, clapping his hands together and bringing me back to reality, “Let’s start with the basics. The object of the game is to have the most points by the time one of the seekers catches the snitch.”</p>
<p>“The snitch?”</p>
<p>“We’ll get there eventually, but first, you need to know about each position on the teams.”</p>
<p>He continued to go on and on about the rules of the game. I had learned earlier that he and George were Beaters for the Gryffindor team, but even though he explained to me what they did multiple times, I was still very confused. Eventually he had explained everything he could possibly explain multiple times, showing me which ball was which and the bats that he and George used. Then he pulled out the smallest ball in his case and held it up for me to see.</p>
<p>“Like I said, the game ends when the seeker catches the snitch, and this right here is the snitch. It’s enchanted to fly all around the field, and it’s very fast, which is why when you catch it you gain 150 points.”</p>
<p>“Wouldn’t that make the team that catches the snitch the winner?” I asked, confused by the extreme amount of points that the tiny little ball gave the teams, “That would make the rest of the game pointless.”</p>
<p>“You might think that that is the case, but sometimes these games can last for days, and one team might rack up a bunch of points, so a mere 150 wouldn’t tip the other team over the edge. Happened at the world cup this past summer actually. I won a lot of money betting on that one.”</p>
<p>I examined the snitch closer, running my fingers over its intricate grooves. As I was about to hand it back to Fred, it fluttered open in my hand, revealing a golden pair of wings. It hovered in front of my face for a moment, zipping around my head before flying off into the sky. It wasn’t hard to find once it flew away. The gold glistened against the white sky.</p>
<p>“Oops.” I said looking at Fred and shrugging my shoulders. He just stood there with a mischievous grin on his face. “What’s with the face?” I asked.</p>
<p>“Well now we have to catch it.” He said, grabbing his broomstick off the ground, “I can’t leave you down here all alone though, what if some professor comes and forces you to perform a spell.”</p>
<p>“That doesn’t happen.” I said, trying desperately to get out of that situation. I was terrified of heights, and flying on a broomstick was the last thing that I ever wanted to do in my entire life.</p>
<p>“Gem, you’ll never get a true understanding of this magnificent sport if you don’t fly on a broomstick once.” He was currently hovering over the ground, waiting for me to get on with him so he could fly off and retrieve his missing snitch. “Plus, I don’t think they work if you don’t have magic, so this is the only way you’ll ever get a chance.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want a chance.” I replied, backing away from Fred who was now hovering over the ground. My chest was getting tighter and tighter each second he hovered there, the thought of flying making me want to vomit. “I’m afraid of heights.” I added.</p>
<p>“You’ll be okay,” He said, flying closer to me. I tripped back in the snow, but caught myself before I could fall. “Just hang on tight and it’ll be over soon. I can’t just leave you down here alone.”</p>
<p>I swallowed back my fear, not wanting to look weak in front of Fred, and begrudgingly climbed onto the broomstick behind him. I sat there for a moment, unsure where to put my hands. I placed them on Fred’s shoulder, hoping that was good enough.</p>
<p>“If you’re really afraid of flying—”</p>
<p>“Falling.” I corrected him, “I’m afraid of falling.”</p>
<p>“Well, if you are really afraid of falling, you are going to need to hold on a bit tighter than that.”</p>
<p>Fred moved my arms to his waist and I linked my hands together. I could feel his stomach moving up and down as he breathed, and tried to focus on the rhythm of his breaths to bring mine back to normal. But I couldn’t seem to remember how to breathe as we took off into the air.</p>
<p>I closed my eyes tightly and clung to Fred even more than I had before, moving my body so that it was right up against his. My heart was pounding out of my chest as I felt the wind rush against my face. I buried my head in Fred’s shoulder, trying desperately to forget about where I was.</p>
<p>“I’m not going to be able to breathe if you hold on any tighter.” Fred joked, but I just tightened my grasp on him.</p>
<p>“You’re just going to have to suck it up, Weasley, because the longer we’re up here, the tighter it’s going to get.”</p>
<p>As we flew through the pitch, I began to calm down just a bit. Enough to finally open my eyes and lift my head out of Fred’s shoulder. The view of the castle was stunning from this high, and it reminded me of the day Naomi and I flew to school in my car a few short months ago.</p>
<p>“Wow.” I muttered, taking in the view.</p>
<p>“See,” Fred said, turning his head to face me, “It’s not that bad up here.”</p>
<p>“Sure.” I replied, trying my hardest to keep my eyes off the ground below. “Keep your eyes on the road.” I added.</p>
<p>We continued to fly around, picking up speed every now and then as we approached the snitch. I tried to keep my eyes straight ahead, focusing only on the flashes of gold in front of us, but at one point, the wind picked up and the broom bounced in the air, causing my gaze to shift to the ground below. Instantly I gripped on to Fred as tight as I could, but I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off the ground.</p>
<p>“Fred,” I muttered, staring down at the ground below, imagining the damage one could get from a fall that high, “I think I’m going to be sick.”</p>
<p>“Hold on for just one more minute,” he said, leaning forward. I caught a glimpse of a small gold flash in front of us and prayed that even though Fred was a beater, he would still be able to catch the snitch quickly. My prayers were answered when Fred reached out his hand and the flash of gold disappeared from the air in front of us. His victory was short lived though, as we both looked down to see who I assumed to be a professor standing by Fred’s trunk, her arms crossed in anger, yelling at both of us to come down that instant.</p>
<p>We reached the ground and I stumbled off the broom, breathing out a sigh of relief when my feet made contact with the solid ground.</p>
<p>“Miss Walters,” The unknown professor huffed at me, “Weasley pulling a stunt like this I understand. But you? I thought you were better than this.”</p>
<p>I looked down at the ground, too ashamed to respond, but luckily, I didn’t have to, because Fred cut in, attempting to fix the mess that he had made.</p>
<p>“This is all my fault, Madam Hooch.” Fred said. I nodded in agreement and he shot me a look before continuing on with his explanation. “Naomi here told me the other day that she was still confused about the quidditch rules.” Madam Hooch looked confused herself. Obviously she had once had Naomi in class, and knowing Naomi, she most definitely passed with flying colors.</p>
<p>Fred ignored her confused look, “I took her out here to explain the rules again, I figured she’d learn better in a more hands on approach. But the snitch got away from us, so we had to go catch it before we could head back inside.” Fred’s explanation sounded pretty convincing to me, but I could tell that she wasn’t buying it.</p>
<p>“Nevertheless,” Madam Hooch said, “You both know that sharing a broom is against school policy, so I do have to give both of you detentions. I will see you in my office Monday night after dinner. I have many brooms that need deep cleaning.”</p>
<p>“Yes ma’am.” I said, defeated. I knew that Naomi had never had a detention in her life, and now my stupid mistake was going to cost her perfect record, and possibly send me packing back to my boring old life.</p>
<p>Fred didn’t seem phased by the news, despite the fact that Madam Hooch definitely thought that he was George, so he would also have to explain to his twin what had happened. George would be much more understanding than Naomi though, they seemed to have detentions every other week.</p>
<p>Once we had packed up all the equipment and Madam Hooch left the quidditch field we started our walk back to the castle as I thought about how to break the news to Naomi.</p>
<p>“What are you thinking about?” Fred asked, noticing I hadn’t said anything for a while.</p>
<p>“Naomi is going to kill me.”</p>
<p>“She’ll be fine,” he said, patting my shoulder, “It’s not like she’s never had a detention before.”</p>
<p>“I’m pretty positive that she hasn’t.”</p>
<p>“Oh, then you’re screwed.” He joked, and I playfully hit his shoulder, which caused him to look over at me with the same mischievous look he had earlier at the quidditch field, “You’re going to pay for that Walters.”</p>
<p>Without even realizing what was happening, we were running through the snow, Fred chasing behind me, stopping occasionally to make a snowball to throw at me, and I started to do the same. We threw snowballs back and forth, me hitting him almost every time, and him missing me more often than not. I wondered if he was really that bad, or if he purposely was letting me win.</p>
<p>Eventually, the cold numbed our fingers and we collapsed into the snow next to each other, staring up at the sky which was an orangish-pink as the sun was just beginning to set.</p>
<p>“Sorry today turned out so rotten.” He said, as he ran his fingers through his long hair. His hat had fallen off sometime during the snowball fight.</p>
<p>I noticed his hand was very close to mine, and I considered taking it, but decided to let him make the first move and instead grazed my fingertips over his, hoping he’d get the hint. He looked at me and smiled before taking my hand in his.</p>
<p>“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I replied with a grin, turning my head in the snow to face him,</p>
<p>“Today was one of the best day’s I’ve had since coming to Hogwarts.”</p>
<p>“Then we really need to get you out of that room more often, if the best day you’ve had at Hogwarts resulted in Naomi getting her first detention.”</p>
<p>“Any day’s a good day if I get to spend it with you.” I said, looking longingly into his eyes. I wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. To have our bodies so close to each other that our heat alone would warm us from the cold. I leaned in closer to him, hoping he would get the hint, but instead he stood up from the ground, holding his arm out to help me up as well.</p>
<p>“Don’t go getting all sappy on me now, Walters.” He said as he brushed the snow off my shoulders, “We should head inside, it’s getting pretty dark out, and you still have to convince Naomi not to murder you in your sleep.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Sixth Year- Flirting in the Broom Shed</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>December 5<sup>th</sup>, 1994</em>
</p>
<p>Naomi took the news of her detention much better than I expected her too. Though she did take every opportunity to tease me for getting in trouble the very first time I hung out with Fred outside of Gryffindor tower alone. It took me by surprise how laid back she was about the whole ordeal, especially since only a few weeks prior she had been so on edge about me messing up when I went to class with her. I was glad though. I didn’t want to go home anytime soon.</p>
<p>“Other than the whole, getting me a detention thing,” Naomi said as she laid across her bed, her hands resting on her chin, a huge grin plastered across her face, “How was your date?”</p>
<p>“It wasn’t a date.” I said as I attempted to warm up with as many blankets and sweaters that I could find.</p>
<p>“It was definitely a date.” Anna chimed in, putting the book that she was reading onto her nightstand and scooting closer to the center of the room, “That boy has a thing for you.”</p>
<p>She was right. I mean, she had to be. He told me he wanted to kiss me the other day after the party, and then today, we were so close. He had the perfect chance to kiss me as we laid out in the snow. I just wasn’t sure why he didn’t do it.</p>
<p>“If it were a date, I would know.” I stated, “We were just hanging out; he was teaching me quidditch.”</p>
<p>“Just teaching you quidditch?” Naomi said, raising her eyebrows up and down.</p>
<p>“Yes, Nom.” I said dryly, “Just teaching me quidditch.”</p>
<p>“And how exactly did you get a detention from a quidditch lesson?” Anna asked.</p>
<p>“Ooo yes, I need to know the whole story in case anyone asks.” Naomi said, leaning in closer to me.</p>
<p>“We, uh, we may have been sharing a broomstick.” Naomi squealed with laughter and I threw my pillow at her. “Not like that! We were <em>actually </em>riding on his broomstick- STOP- we were riding on his broomstick to catch the snitch that I accidentally released.”</p>
<p>“Gem,” Anna said, “If it were a practice snitch, and not a game snitch, they can be called back with a simple spell.”</p>
<p>I stared at her, shocked. There was no way that Fred knew that but still made me fly with him to catch the snitch. If he did, I had some words to say to him.</p>
<p>“You’re kidding.”</p>
<p>“Nope. It’s common knowledge really, especially for an experienced quidditch player like Fred.”</p>
<p>“I’m going to kill him.” I said,  jumping off the bed and throwing my slippers on. I didn’t know what I would say when I reached his door, but I knew I had to say something, I still felt like I was going to be sick every time I thought about being on that broomstick. If he didn’t even need to catch the snitch, I was going to be very cross with him.</p>
<p>“Gem, you can’t go to his room right now, it’s past curfew.” Naomi said, sitting up in her bed.</p>
<p>“Screw curfew, I already have a detention.”</p>
<p>“No. I’m the one who has detention; you don’t even exist in the eyes of the administration. Please just sit down, you can talk to him tomorrow at detention.”</p>
<p>I took a deep breath before closing the door and heading back over to my bed. Maybe he didn’t know about the spell. He was a beater, not a seeker. He mainly dealt with bludgers, so the snitch wasn’t something he would have to pay attention too. Not only that, but he didn’t have practice very often this year since the teams weren’t competing, so maybe he just forgot about the spell.</p>
<p>Or maybe he didn’t.</p>
<p>Maybe he knew all about the spell, yet he ignored my plea to let me stay on the ground. I was hoping it was the other answer, but I knew deep down that this was the only reasonable answer. Quidditch was a huge part of Fred’s life, so it wouldn’t make any sense that he would forget such a simple spell. I wasn’t going to think about it anymore. I would just go to bed and talk to him during detention tomorrow.</p>
<p>“Fine.” I sighed, kicking off my slippers and sitting back down on my bed.</p>
<p>“Thank you.” Naomi said, crawling under the covers and turning off the light beside her bed. “Now get some sleep, who knows what Hooch has in store for you two tomorrow night.”</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>I skipped both meals the next day because I wasn’t in the mood to be Naomi, and I was nervous about my detention later that night. If Hooch asked us to perform any sort of spells, I would be screwed. Naomi didn’t think this would happen, since most of the detentions that students were typically given didn’t use any magic at all, and that would make the detention easier.</p>
<p>I met Fred outside of Madam Hooch’s office, but instead of greeting him with the same smile he greeted me with, I crossed my arms and stared him down.</p>
<p>“What?” He asked, I noticed his voice quivered from what seemed to be nerves.</p>
<p>“Don’t <em>what</em> me Fred Weasley. I know what you did.”</p>
<p>“Care to clue me in?” He asked, putting his hand on my shoulder which I quickly brushed off.</p>
<p>“You knew that you could just call the snitch back. You didn’t have to catch it, or better yet, you didn’t have to force me to ride with you to catch it. We wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for you.”</p>
<p>“That’s what you think?” Fred said, smirking down at me.</p>
<p>“No, that’s what I <em>know</em>.”</p>
<p>“That wasn’t a practice snitch, Gem. I borrowed the game snitch from Hooch the other day.”</p>
<p>“Borrowed?”</p>
<p>“Well, more like took without telling with the intention of returning it eventually.”</p>
<p>“So, we did have to catch it?”</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t lie to you Gem.” He said, returning his hand to my shoulder, but this time I let it stay there.</p>
<p>“Sorry,” I said, looking down at the floor, “It’s just, Anna told me last night that you could just call it back, and— I don’t think you understand how terrified of heights I really am.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t at first,” He replied, letting a soft laugh escape through his nose, “But then you were holding onto me so tightly, and your head was crushing my shoulder, so I kinda figured it out.” He paused for a moment, “But, well I should be the one apologizing, because I could have brought you back down I just— well, I just really liked having you so close to me.”</p>
<p>My face began to blush, and I attempted to hide it by looking away, but the smile on his face showed me that he noticed. The only thing that prevented me from passing out or being sick while being up that high was the thought that Fred would be there to save me if anything had gone wrong. And I liked holding onto him as much as he liked being held.</p>
<p>The sound of footsteps filled the silent corridor, and the two of us turned to see Madam Hooch rushing down the hall, her office key clutched tightly in her hands.</p>
<p>“Good, you’re here.” She said as she unlocked the door to her office, “I just need to grab a few things and then we can head to the broom shed.”</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>The broom shed was near the quidditch field, and the hike through the snow was unbearable, especially since the sun had set hours ago, which made the temperature drop at least five degrees. The shed didn’t have any heating or installation either. It was, quite literally, just a shed. I wasn’t sure how I would make it through this detention without freezing to death.</p>
<p>“I know it’s cold,” Hooch said while lighting a lantern that hung from the ceiling, “So I won’t make you two stay out here for too long. I’ll be back in an hour. The first years tend to get the practice brooms very dirty, and I haven’t had the chance to clean them out yet, so clean as many as you can before I come back.”</p>
<p>With that she shut the door behind her, and Fred and I were alone.</p>
<p>“I’m freezing.” I said, my teeth chattering as I tried to get the words out.</p>
<p>“You should have worn more layers.” He responded, walking over to the pile of brooms we were supposed to clean.</p>
<p>“How was I supposed to know that our detention would take place in Antarctica?”</p>
<p>“If you had bothered to come to lunch or dinner today, I would have warned you that all of Hooch’s detentions take place in the broom shed, no matter what the weather is like outside.”</p>
<p>“This has to be illegal.”</p>
<p>Fred laughed and tossed me a broom that had a few leaves and blades of grass stuck in the end of it. I quickly brushed them out and went over to grab another.</p>
<p>“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Fred said after a few minutes of silently cleaning the brooms, “What are your plans for winter break?”</p>
<p>I hadn’t really thought about it much. Naomi and I had both agreed that I couldn’t go home, since my parents still thought I was backpacking across Europe with James. Our current plan was for me to stay at Hogwarts pretending to be her, while she snuck on the train without any professors seeing her. I told Fred our idea, but he didn’t seem impressed.</p>
<p>“You can’t spend your winter break alone at Hogwarts. That’s just sad.”</p>
<p>“I don’t seem to have any other options, now do I?”</p>
<p>“Come stay with me and my family,” He said, and I could slightly catch a twinkle in his eye under the dim lighting of the shed, “We’d be happy to have you.”</p>
<p>“How would I get there?” I asked, cocking my eyebrow. There was no way that this would end up happening, and I didn’t want to give myself false hope. “I can’t just take the train to The Burrow. I think someone would notice that there were two Naomi’s there.”</p>
<p>“We’ll just take your car. It got you here at the beginning of the year, what’s stopping it from flying to and from the Burrow?”</p>
<p>“What about the acromantulas?” I teased.</p>
<p>“Oh, I’m sure they’ve moved on to some new hang out, muggle cars are so last season.”</p>
<p>“Okay.” I said, ignoring his feeble attempt at a joke and returning to the broom I had neglected during the conversation.</p>
<p>“Okay?”</p>
<p>“Okay, I’ll spend my winter break at your house.”</p>
<p>“Brilliant!” he exclaimed, pulling me into a hug that lifted me off of the ground. I hugged him back, excited at the possibility of spending two whole weeks with Fred.</p>
<p>We continued cleaning the brooms while discussing what we would be doing over break. Fred told me his mum cooks the best meals, better than the feasts that they served at the Great Hall. He said that they always had a quidditch match on Christmas morning, but since the Yule Ball was on Christmas this year, they would have to postpone it for a few days later. I noticed his tone changed when he mentioned the Yule Ball, and he looked over at me, obviously upset about something.</p>
<p>“You know I would have asked you if I could have, Gem.”</p>
<p>“I know.” I responded, though it wasn’t true. While I had hoped this was the case, I had begun to think that maybe it was all in my head. Maybe he didn’t kiss me the night of the party not because I was drunk, but because he didn’t fancy me at all. But now I knew for a fact.</p>
<p>Fred Weasley fancied <em>me. </em>A boring old <em>muggle.</em></p>
<p>“If you were a witch, things would be so much easier.” He said as he busied himself with another broom, “I want to hang out with you around the castle, not just with you pretending to be Naomi.”</p>
<p>“I want that too.” I said, looking away from him so that he wouldn’t see the sadness in my eyes.</p>
<p>Fred set down the broom he had been cleaning for the last few minutes and stepped so close to me that I could feel his warmth emanating off of his chest. He gently turned me around to face him and pushed my hair behind my ear as he gently caressed the side of my face.</p>
<p>“I really like you Gem” he said as his face fell closer to mine.   </p>
<p>“I like you too.”</p>
<p>I could feel his breath on my face, and I grabbed his waist and pulled him even closer to me, his hips rubbing against mine. I leaned up towards him, standing on my tip toes to meet his face, and just as we both leaned in for the kiss, the doorknob rattled behind us and we quickly jumped apart. Madam Hooch walked through the doorway and I stood there awkwardly, grabbing my arm with my hand as I stared at the dirt floor below. My cheeks were flushed with anticipation, though I could blame that on the cold.</p>
<p>“Merlin, it’s cold out here.” Madam Hooch said as she entered the shed, wrapping her robe tighter across her chest and looking around the shed. “Good work you two. Thank you for all of your help. You may return back to the castle now.”</p>
<p>My heart was racing, from both the thought of kissing Fred and the fact that we had almost been caught. Fred and I hurried past her, wishing her a good night as we left.</p>
<p>“I can’t believe she would make us work out there in the cold for over an hour, and then have the audacity to talk about how cold it was when she came back!” I said as soon as we were back inside. I wanted to talk about the almost kiss, but I didn’t want to be the first to bring it up.</p>
<p>“And the first years are done with flying lessons for the semester,” Fred added, “So I don’t know why she felt the need to have us clean the brooms. Especially at night in the dead of winter.”</p>
<p>“At least she had the sense to only have us stay out there for an hour. If not, I’d probably be spending the night in the hospital wing with frostbite!” I exclaimed. The feeling in my fingers had barely come back, so I wasn’t sure whether or not this was actually a joke. </p>
<p>We walked through the castle, making our way back to the common room. As we approached the Grand Staircase, Fred grabbed my hand, “Blimey, you’re as cold as ice.” He laughed, and I nodded in agreement, the butterfly’s from earlier returning to my stomach. I squeezed his hand as we walked up to the common room. I never wanted to let him go.</p>
<p>As we walked through the portrait hole, Fred cracked some stupid joke which caused me to laugh so hard I had to hang onto him for stability. Neither of us noticed the student sitting on the couch, staring at us in disbelief.</p>
<p>“What the bloody hell is going on here?” He asked, standing up from the couch and walking over towards us. It was Fred’s roommate, Lee Jordan. “I was just forced out of my own room by George and Naomi, so I know for a fact that you’re Fred, but who the hell are you?”</p>
<p>“Keep your voice down.” Fred whispered to Lee, looking around the room to see if anyone else had noticed his sudden outburst. We seemed to be in the clear though, since there were very little people in the room, and they all seemed to be focused on their own conversations. “Come upstairs, I’ll explain everything.”</p>
<p>“Oh, you better have a good explanation for this Weasley.” He scoffed as we headed for their dorm.</p>
<p>We walked up the stairs, Lee following behind, looking back and forth between the two of us. As we approached the door, Fred knocked lightly, “We’re coming in. You better be dressed.”</p>
<p>Fred opened the door to see Naomi laying in George’s bed, the blanket pulled all the way up past her shoulders.</p>
<p><strong><em>Sorry… </em></strong>I thought to her, but she just looked annoyed until she noticed Lee standing behind us and her eyes opened wide at the sight of him.</p>
<p>“Seriously Fred,” George said, not yet noticing Lee standing behind the two of us, “What did we talk about? You need to wait for a response before you come barging in.”</p>
<p>“At least I knocked.”</p>
<p>George threw Naomi his sweater and she quickly pulled it over her head. “Honestly, imagine if I did that to you, you would hex me into another—” He paused, finally noticing the third figure standing in the doorway, and he understood why Fred had barged in so suddenly.</p>
<p>“Lee, I um, I can explain—” George stuttered.</p>
<p>“Please.” Lee responded, crossing his arms across his chest.</p>
<p>Fred closed the door and he and I sat on the edge of his bed, facing George and Naomi, while Lee took a seat in the dormer.</p>
<p>“Lee, meet Gemma,” George said, motioning to me, “Gemma, meet Lee Jordan, our roommate.” I flashed him a smile, but he ignored it and stared at George and Naomi instead.</p>
<p>“Gemma?” Lee said, looking at Naomi who had crawled out of the covers and now sat close to George. “Your <em>muggle </em>sister?”</p>
<p>“Oi, watch it.” Fred said, pulling me closer to him.</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean it like that, mate. You know my mum’s a muggle.”</p>
<p>“Anyways,” George said, trying to ease the tension in the room, “Gemma has been staying at Hogwarts this year, pretending to be Nom from time to time, to experience what life is like in the wizarding world. Think of it like a study abroad, but you have to keep your identity hidden the entire time and steal someone else’s every now and then.”</p>
<p>“So, all those times that I have hung out with Naomi this year in the Great Hall, it was actually her?”</p>
<p>“Well, not all the time. Sometimes it was actually Naomi.”</p>
<p>“Look,” Lee said to me, his face stoic, “It’s great that you’re here, I’m not upset with you,” He turned to face George and Naomi now, his brows furrowed, “I <em>am </em>upset with you three, keeping this secret from me. I’m your roommate for Godric’s sake. Not to mention your best friend. I thought we told each other everything.” Lee hopped out of the dormer and threw on a sweater that had been lying at the foot of his bed before heading for the door. “I’m going for a walk.”</p>
<p>“You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?” Naomi asked before he could leave. Her voice quivered, and I could tell she was worried.</p>
<p>“I know you don’t care to know me that well Naomi, but I would never do something like that. I’m not a nark.” Lee scoffed before storming out of the room and slamming the door behind him.</p>
<p>“That went well.” Fred joked, breaking the silence that had engulfed the room.</p>
<p>“Oh, tremendously.” I responded, letting out a nervous laugh.</p>
<p>“Well, I guess this is for the best,” George said, trying to reassure Naomi that everything was going to be okay. She was a bit shaken up, she wasn’t used to people yelling at her like that. “He was going to have to find out soon enough.”</p>
<p>“I just don’t understand why you didn’t tell him from the beginning.” Fred said, which caused George to look even more upset then he already did.</p>
<p>“You know I was only doing it to protect Gem. Lee has a big mouth, he’s terrible at keeping secrets.”</p>
<p>There was a tension in the room that I didn’t care for, and I knew that Naomi and George would prefer it if Fred and I made our way to the common room, so I stood up from the bed, smoothing out my jeans and turned to Fred, “Should we head to the common room?”</p>
<p>“I’d love to.” He said, standing up next to me.</p>
<p>“Umm— I’ll see you later?” I asked Naomi who just nodded her head.</p>
<p>As Fred and I headed down to the common room, my mind was racing. So many things had happened in the course of one single night. It was going to be a while until I could fully process what was happening.</p>
<p>Lee knew. Which meant one more person in the school knew that I existed. Which meant there was one more possibility of my secret getting out.</p>
<p>But for some reason, that was the least of my worries.</p>
<p>Because Fred Weasley almost kissed me. And I had to find a way to get rid of the <em>almost</em>. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Sixth Year- Imitation Spell Casting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>December 6<sup>th</sup>, 1994</em>
</p>
<p>The next day, I was sitting in the last Defense Against the Dark Arts class that Naomi would let me attend that semester. Final exams were coming up in a week, and she needed to be at all the remaining classes, especially since she hadn’t attended half of them, and I wasn’t very good at relaying the information that I had learned back to her.</p>
<p>Defense Against the Dark Arts was the more stressful of the two classes that Naomi let me attend, mainly due to the fact that Professor Moody thought it was necessary for his students to be seated in alphabetical order. Fred and George shared the table at the back of the classroom, while I sat with the Slytherin, Cassius Warrington at the table across from the twins. Cassius always gave me strange looks during class, most likely because he noticed a difference from when Naomi would attend class and answer almost every question that Moody asked, to when I would attend class and stay quiet the entire time.</p>
<p>If he did think that it was strange, he never mentioned it to anyone, and I was grateful for that.</p>
<p>“Can anyone demonstrate for the class the Imperturbable Charm?” Moody asked, looking around the room. “Anyone?”</p>
<p>I glanced around the room and noticed that none of the students were making eye contact with the professor. Some were looking fascinated as they stared out the window, others were running their fingers through the grooves of their table. I made the horrible mistake of being the first student to actually make eye contact with Moody.</p>
<p>“Ahh. Miss Walters, please come up to the front of the class and demonstrate the Imperturbable Charm that we learned last week.”</p>
<p>My heart started pounding as I looked over to Fred and George, who had the same worried look on their faces that I had. Cassius nudged me, trying to get me to stand up and walk to the front of the class, but my legs didn’t seem to want to move.</p>
<p><strong>How do you perform the Imperturbable Charm? </strong>I asked Naomi, hoping that she would be paying attention and have the answer ready for me.</p>
<p>
  <strong>You flick and swish your wand and say <em>Invisibilia Murus</em>. Is Moody quizzing you?</strong>
</p>
<p><strong>Something like that. </strong>I didn’t want her too to worry, if I was somehow able to pull this off, then she would never need to know.</p>
<p>I grabbed Naomi’s wand off of the table and made my way to the front of the classroom.</p>
<p>“Thank you for volunteering.” Moody said as I turned toward the class, “Now before you demonstrate this charm, let me remind the class of what it does exactly. The Imperturbable Charm creates an invisible barrier on an object, typically used for a wall or a door. I want you to use the charm on the classroom door, and then I will see if I can hear the sounds from outside.”</p>
<p>I gripped Naomi’s wand tightly and pointed it at the classroom door, hoping that the twins had figured out a way to make it look like I was the one performing the charm, and not the two of them from the back of the classroom.</p>
<p>“<em>Invisibilia Murus” </em>I chanted, flicking, and swishing the wand how Naomi had taught me months ago. To my surprise, a beam of light came out from the end of the wand and hit the door. A smile spread across my face as I realized that Fred and George had figured it out. I looked over at them, expecting them to look as excited as I was feeling, but they were whispering to each other with confused looks on their faces.</p>
<p>“Mr and Mr Weasley, do you have anything to share with the class about Naomi’s spell?” Moody said, causing the boys to turn their heads.</p>
<p>“Nope.” They said in unison.</p>
<p>“Then I would like the two of you to stay after class. I do not appreciate you two talking during Miss Walters presentation.”</p>
<p>I returned to my seat as Moody went to investigate whether the spell that the twins had cast worked, leaving the classroom teacherless, which caused everyone to begin talking. I tried to get the boys attention, but they were already deep in conversation, so instead I began to flip through the textbook, in case I was called on again to answer another question.</p>
<p>“What are you doing this weekend?” Cassius asked me, which came as a surprise, since we had never talked about anything other than class before.</p>
<p>“Umm, I’m not sure, probably just studying for exams.”</p>
<p>“Will you grab a butterbeer with me at Hogsmeade instead?” He asked. Was this boy really asking Naomi on a date? With George sitting right across from us?</p>
<p>“Thank you, but I have a boyfriend.” I said, motioning over towards George.</p>
<p>“Weasley?” he asked, with a tone of disgust, and I nodded my head. “It doesn’t have to be a date. We can just grab a drink and study for the exam together. You seem to know a lot about this class, at least, most of the time, and I’m struggling a lot.”</p>
<p>I didn’t want to commit to anything as Naomi, and I knew that she didn’t like Cassius at all, mostly because he was a Slytherin and there was always some weird tension between Slytherins and Gryffindors that I didn’t totally understand.</p>
<p>“I’ll have to think about it.”</p>
<p>“Find me at dinner tonight. Let me know your answer by then.”</p>
<p>I nodded my head and turned it back to my textbook. There was no way I was going to go on a date with Cassius Warrington. Definitely not as Naomi. I glanced over to Fred and George, hoping that they had overheard our conversation, but they still were too busy talking with each other to notice.</p>
<p>Fred and George stayed behind after class, just as Moody had instructed them. I tried to wait outside the door for them, but Cassius noticed me standing alone and offered to walk me back to my dorm.</p>
<p>“That’s okay, I’m waiting for George.”</p>
<p>“It would be my pleasure.” He said, holding out his arm for me to grab. I looked back at the classroom door and decided that it could be a while until Moody was done talking with the boys, so I pushed myself off the wall and started walking away, not bothering to grab Cassius’ hand. He walked next to me anyways.</p>
<p>“You confuse me Naomi.”</p>
<p>“Why’s that?”</p>
<p>“You just seem so different every time we have class together. Some days you’re this goody two shoes who has the answer to every single question, and other times you barely say a word the entire class.”</p>
<p>“I can’t do all the work for the class all the time.”</p>
<p>“I like it though.”</p>
<p>“Like what?”</p>
<p>“Your whole <em>multiple personality </em>thing. It’s cute.”</p>
<p>Cute? Was this boy actually flirting with me, even after I had told him that I, well, Naomi, had a boyfriend? I let out a small thanks and continued walking towards the Gryffindor common room, but Cassius continued to follow me.</p>
<p>“Tell me about yourself” he said after a few minutes of silence.</p>
<p>“What do you want to know?”</p>
<p>“Everything. We’ve shared classes together for, what, six years now? And yet I know absolutely nothing about you. What’s your family like?”</p>
<p>“My family?” I knew that Cassius was a pureblood, he basically talked about it all the time, and he hung out with people like Draco Malfoy, who only surrounded himself with other purebloods. I was not excited to hear his reaction when I told him Naomi was a muggle born. Or maybe if I told him he would leave me alone. “My parents are both accountants, really boring. They are both muggles and –”</p>
<p>“Muggles?” Cassius cut me off mid-sentence, just as I expected, “So what? You’re a mudblood then?”</p>
<p>I was taken aback by his sudden choice of words. I thought back to the first year Naomi attended Hogwarts. She had sent me a tear stained letter only a week into classes explaining to me what a mudblood was, and that she had been called one multiple times while walking through the halls. I knew that only the worst types of wizards used slurs like that one.</p>
<p>“That’s not a very nice word.” I said, glaring at Cassius, who didn’t show any remorse at all for using that kind of language.</p>
<p>“Well, it’s what you are, isn’t it?” He asked, “I don’t mind by the way. That you’re a mudblood.”</p>
<p>“Oh, how kind of you.” I said, rolling my eyes. I really needed this boy to leave me alone, and we were almost to the portrait hole, so he definitely would leave before I said the password.</p>
<p>“Tell me more about yourself.” He said, changing the subject, “I like listening to you talk.”</p>
<p>“Umm, I have a twin sister.” I said, trying to be vague with my answers, I was still Naomi, and she wouldn’t like it if I gave her life story to this boy, “She’s a muggle though, so you haven’t seen her around.”</p>
<p>“There’s no way she could be as pretty as you. You’re the most gorgeous girl I’ve ever laid eyes on.”</p>
<p>I felt my cheeks begin to blush, and I scolded myself for being flattered by this Slytherin who, not even two minutes prior, had called Naomi a mudblood. “We’re identical.”</p>
<p>“Lucky me then.” He said with a smirk.</p>
<p>We had finally reached the Fat Lady’s portrait, and I turned to Cassius to thank him for walking me back, even though I could have done without the name calling.</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just something that’s been said around me for so long, I forget it has a bad meaning.”</p>
<p>“Sure.” I could understand growing up in a toxic household that uses slurs like that, but the boy was 17, and he should’ve known by now that those words weren’t acceptable. “You can leave now; I’ve got it from here.”</p>
<p>“Fine. But I expect to see you at dinner with an answer for me. And I’m hoping it’s a yes.”</p>
<p>I rolled my eyes as he walked away and turned to the Fat Lady, fully prepared to say the password, but a voice from behind me said it before I was able to.</p>
<p>“Hey Gem.” Lee said as he walked past me. I stood outside the common room for a few seconds, confused as to how he knew I wasn’t Naomi, before following him in and sitting at the couch with him. The common room was empty, so I was able to talk to Lee freely, as Gemma and not Naomi.</p>
<p>“How did you know it was me?”</p>
<p>“Because Naomi would never be caught dead with Cassius Warrington.”</p>
<p>“He’s not that bad.” I said defensively, even though I had no idea why. That boy had just called me a mudblood, and yet I still thought he was an okay guy. Not to mention, he was pretty easy on the eyes.</p>
<p>“Gem, he’s a pureblood Slytherin, the worst type of person you’ll ever meet. He hates muggleborns, and he absolutely despises muggles.”</p>
<p>“Well if he doesn’t like me, then he has an awfully weird way of showing it. All he did during the walk from class to the common room was compliment me.”</p>
<p>“Seriously Gemma, if I were you, I’d stay away from him. And I wouldn’t tell Fred about any of this, he hates Slytherins the most out of anybody.”</p>
<p>“Well, you aren’t me, are you?” I said, standing up from the couch. I felt a sort of anger in me that I didn’t quite understand, “I can do as I please.”</p>
<p>I turned to head upstairs, ignoring anything that Lee was saying to me on my way out. I obviously wasn’t going to pursue Cassius in a romantic way, that would be far too complicated, plus I had Fred.</p>
<p>Or, I <em>almost </em>had Fred.</p>
<p>I entered my dorm, ready to tell Naomi all that had happened during class involving Cassius. I didn’t care to tell her about our walk back to the common room. It would just make her upset, hearing that someone had called her the thing she despised. If it wasn’t Naomi’s day at dinner, I would have refrained from telling her anything about my conversation with Cassius. But unfortunately, it was her day, and she had to be the one to turn him down.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Sixth Year- Say Yes to the Dress</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>December 17<sup>th</sup>, 1994</em>
</p>
<p>“What’s Hogsmeade like?” I asked as Naomi was getting ready to head to the wizard town that afternoon to try on dresses for the Yule Ball that was only a week away. She had been trying to go for the past two months, but something always came up, so she was forced to wait until the very last minute to find her dress.</p>
<p>“Why don’t you come and find out?” she said while throwing on her sweater.</p>
<p>I raised my brow at her and let out a slight laugh. There was no way that both of us could go to Hogsmeade to try on dresses, that would be far too risky, and we would be caught right away.</p>
<p>“I have a surprise for you.” Naomi said, sharing a sly smile with Anna who was sitting at the foot of her bed. Naomi ran into the bathroom and came back out a few moments later with a vial of some thick, mud-like liquid and then plucked a strand of hair off of Anna’s head.</p>
<p>“What is that?” I asked, slightly disgusted by the liquid she had just placed Anna’s hair into.</p>
<p>“George, Fred, and I have been brewing this batch of Polyjuice potion for the past month so that you can come to Hogsmeade with me!”</p>
<p>“I already have a dress, so I was planning on staying back anyways!” Anna said, expecting to see excitement on my face, but I was still confused.</p>
<p>“What’s Polyjuice potion?”</p>
<p>“Oh, I forget you aren’t a witch sometimes.” Anna said.</p>
<p>“It’s a potion that turns you into the likeness of the person whose hair is mixed in the potion. So basically, you’re going to look exactly like Anna all day. You just have to take a drink of this every hour or so to continue to look like Anna.”</p>
<p>I cautiously grabbed the vial from Naomi, noticing that the color had changed from a dirt brown to a light lavender after adding the strand of Anna’s hair. It smelled like fresh lilacs, which made it easy for me to overlook the texture as I took a drink. Soon I felt a weird bubbling in my stomach as I shrunk a good half foot to be the same height as Anna. I ran to the bathroom to see that the reflection looking back at me wasn’t me at all, but instead the curly haired girl sitting at the foot of her bed, gawking at my new appearance.</p>
<p>“Is this what life is like for you two all the time?” Anna asked in amazement, not taking her eyes off of me for even a second.</p>
<p>“You get used to it.” Naomi responded, handing me a pile of Anna’s clothes that she had just taken out of her trunk. “Go ahead and change out of my clothes and into Anna’s and then we can head to the carriages, there is no way I’m missing this trip and not having a dress for the ball.”</p>
<p>I did as I was told and Anna handed me her wand, which she made me swear on my life that I would take care of. I stuffed it in my boot, threw on her jacket, and then Naomi and I left the dorm, leaving Anna all alone.</p>
<p>We made our way down to the carriages. It was so cold outside, and the snow was lightly falling from the sky. I didn’t think it could be much colder than the day Fred and I served detention in the broom shed, but I was wrong. I wrapped the jacket tighter around my body as I handed Professor McGonagall Anna’s permission slip and boarded the carriage along with Naomi and some Ravenclaw’s I had never seen before. Naomi seemed to have class with one of them and began talking to them about the exam coming up in Herbology, while I watched outside the window as Hogwarts faded further and further away.</p>
<p>Soon we came upon a small town with odd-shaped buildings. Naomi had told me about Hogsmeade before. She told me that it was a town populated by only witches and wizards, with lots of strange shops that you would never find in a muggle town. I had always imagined it to be similar to Diagon Alley, but I was very wrong. I enjoyed the atmosphere of Hogsmeade much more than the atmosphere of Diagon Alley. It was quaint and quiet, very different from the hustle and bustle that was Diagon Alley.</p>
<p>“Let’s head to Gladrags first,” Naomi said, hopping out of the carriage after me, “Then we can go meet George and Fred for a butterbeer once we both have our dresses.”</p>
<p>“Both?” I asked, walking next to her as she led the way to the dress shop.</p>
<p> “Uh, duh! You’re getting a dress too!”</p>
<p>“Naomi,” I sighed, “There’s no reason for me to get a dress, I can’t even go to the ball. It’ll just be a waste of money.”</p>
<p>“I know, but we’ve never had the chance to dress up together! I thought it would be fun, we can borrow a camera from someone and have a whole photoshoot in our dorm before the dance!”</p>
<p>I tried to argue with Naomi, telling her it didn’t make any sense, but she wasn’t having it, so I just went along with it, planning on disliking every dress she gave me so that we wouldn’t have to buy one.</p>
<p>The small consignment shop was nestled between two large brick buildings with slanted roofs. The sign was swinging above the door, but the freshly fallen snow was sticking, so instead of <em>GLADRAGS, </em>it instead read <em>DRAGS.</em></p>
<p>Naomi pushed open the door and a tiny bell above us rang, indicating that the shop had new customers. A stocky woman hopped off of her stool behind the counter and walked towards us. She was wearing an orange dress that seemed to have been from the 18<sup>th</sup> century. It had thick material that was perfect for the winter months that reached her ankles where she wore brown boots that laced up the front with a white ribbon. Over her shoulder laid a brown shawl with battered frills at the end. She didn’t look like she belonged in this century.</p>
<p>“I assume you girls are here for a yule ball dress?” She asked as she approached us, smoothing out her apron.</p>
<p>Naomi nodded her head and the shopkeeper ushered us through the door behind the counter.</p>
<p>The back room had a green velvet couch that sat in front of a three paneled mirror. I took a seat on the couch and Naomi went into the dressing room as the shopkeeper brought her different dresses to try on.</p>
<p>The shopkeeper, who introduced herself as Madam Clavette, brought me sparkling water served in a champagne glass. I felt very fancy, lounging there as Naomi tried on dress after dress. I wasn’t sure where Madam Clavette was getting all of the dresses, since the shop was very small, far too small to hold the many dresses she was showing Naomi, especially since every single one fit like a glove. I decided not to ask in case it was some kind of magic.</p>
<p>After what felt like a hundred different dresses, Naomi tried on a white, floor length gown that had a sheer fabric on the base with small pink flowers flowing up towards the waist. She spun around a few times, a smile beaming across her face.</p>
<p>She was glowing.</p>
<p>“Nom, that one is amazing.” I said as I leaned forward on the couch.</p>
<p>“I think this is the one.” She replied. She was staring at herself in the mirror, turning her head around to see every angle.</p>
<p>George was going to love it.</p>
<p>Naomi went back into the dressing room and returned a few moments later, dressed once again in her Gryffindor sweater, her winter jacket hanging over her arms.</p>
<p>“Is that everything for you then?” Madam Clavette asked.</p>
<p>I tried to say yes, but Naomi cut me off before I was able to say a word, telling the shopkeeper that she wanted to get one more dress that she could wear back home.</p>
<p>When Madam Clavette went to grab more dresses, Naomi looked over at me with a sly smile and winked. I rolled my eyes. She was so stubborn; I would never win this argument if I decided to start it.</p>
<p> <strong><em>You’re getting a dress. </em></strong>She thought to me as the shopkeeper returned, holding dresses similar to the one Naomi had decided on.</p>
<p>Naomi and I had very different tastes when it came to fashion. She enjoyed dresses that cinched at the waist and had a wide, flowing bottom, while I enjoyed more skin tight dresses that accentuated my curves. The shopkeeper was confused when Naomi asked for dresses like that, since she had tried on so many of the other type and none that fit that description, but she grabbed the dresses anyways.</p>
<p>The first dress she brought out was a dark green dress with a slit up the side and a cowl neck. I was in love. I had gone to a formal the year before with James, but my mum picked out my dress for me while I was at school and wouldn’t let me return it when I told her it wasn’t my style. This dress was exactly what I had envisioned myself wearing last year. At the time, I was very upset with my mum, but I realized that I could forgive her, because my dream dress wasn’t ruined by a horrible date.</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>That’s the one. </em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p><strong><em>It’s definitely not my style, but I’ll have her package it up. I think Fred’s gonna like this one. </em></strong>I shot her a dirty look, but it wasn’t like the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. We still hadn’t had the chance to talk about our almost kiss that night in the broom shed. We had tried to that night, after we left George and Naomi, but when we got down to the common room, Ron was freaking out because he had asked Fleur to the dance, so we got caught up in that situation and forgot about our own.</p>
<p>Once both dresses were packaged into their pink boxes and Naomi paid for both of them with the money our parents had set aside for her, we were back outside in the cold. The snow had stopped falling, coating the roofs with a fresh blanket of snow. I could smell a sweet chocolate scent coming from the cake shop that was only a few doors down from Gladrags.</p>
<p>It felt like a fairy tale. </p>
<p>“You should take another drink of the Polyjuice potion.” Naomi whispered down to me. It was weird having her tower over me. I wouldn’t take being tall for granted after this experience.</p>
<p>I went to pull out the vial when Cassius Warrington turned the corner and noticed the two of us standing outside of Gladrags.</p>
<p>“Well, well, well.” He said, sauntering over to us with his hands in his coat pocket, “I thought you were too busy to do anything this weekend, yet here you are on the Hogsmeade trip. What do you have to say about this Walters?”</p>
<p>Naomi rolled her eyes and tried to push past Cassius, but he walked in front of her, blocking her path.</p>
<p>“I don’t owe you anything, Warrington.” She said, crossing her arms, “I said I was too busy to hang out with <em>you</em>.”</p>
<p>“Ouch, that hurt.” He said, clutching his chest with a slight smile on his face, “Since you’re already here then, why don’t we go get that butterbeer.”</p>
<p>“Leave her alone.” I said, stepping up to Cassius. If I thought that Naomi towered over me, it was nothing compared to Cassius. I really needed to be my own height again soon.</p>
<p>“What are you gonna do about it, Sperney? I’ve never heard you even talk outside of class before.” </p>
<p>“I can be mean when I want to be.”</p>
<p>“Butt out of this Sperney, this is between me and Walters.”</p>
<p>Before Naomi was able to say anything back, Fred and George walked out of the shop on the corner, the sign above the door indicating that it was some kind of joke shop, and they made their way over towards us. Fred laughed when he noticed me as Anna, and I rolled my eyes.</p>
<p>“What’s going on here?” George said, while protectively wrapping his arm around Naomi. Cassius scoffed at the arrival of the twins and backed away a couple of steps.</p>
<p>“Don’t get your panties twisted Weasley, we were just talking. I’ll see you in class Naomi.” Cassius winked at Naomi and shot me a disgusted look before heading back towards the carriages.</p>
<p>“Warrington’s a total git.” Fred said as he turned to head towards our next destination.</p>
<p>“You’ve got that right.” George replied.</p>
<p>Fred and I walked ahead of Naomi and George as we made our way to The Three Broomsticks. Fred kept looking at me and attempting to hold in a laugh, and I had had enough.</p>
<p>“What’s your problem?”</p>
<p>“It’s just funny. Seeing you like this.”</p>
<p>“I’ll be back to my normal self in no time, don’t you worry. I know you miss seeing my face.”</p>
<p>“I quite like this face actually. Maybe you should stay like this for a while.” He smirked.</p>
<p>I playfully pushed his shoulder, but either Fred wasn’t prepared, or Anna was much stronger than I thought, because Fred had fallen in the snowbank. George and Naomi ran up from behind us, Naomi laughing so hard that she had to lean on George for support.</p>
<p>“What did you do Freddie?” George asked in between laughs.</p>
<p>“What did I do?<em> She </em>pushed <em>me</em>!” He exclaimed. He was still sitting in the snow bank. He seemed to be in disbelief.</p>
<p>“She obviously had a good reason Fred, Anna’s not the type to shove someone into the snow.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,<em> Anna</em> would never do that.” He said eyeing me, “But I know someone else who would shove me without hesitation.”</p>
<p>“I wonder who that is.” I said, flipping my curly hair behind my head and walking into the restaurant, not bothering to help him up.</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>“Wait, wait, wait.” Fred said, holding up his hands defensively as we sat in a booth at the Three Broomsticks, “The pink was supposed to fade after an hour! You’re telling me it never went away?”</p>
<p>“It started to get more intense the longer it was on!” I exclaimed across the table; a bit buzzed from the three butterbeers I had already drank. “It took Naomi a good thirty minutes to flip through her spell book to find the reversal spell.”</p>
<p>“I can’t believe you pranked her without me Freddie.” George said, shaking his head in feigned disappointment.</p>
<p>“I just wish I could have seen it at its peak pink. I still stand by what I said about pink hair.” He looked over at me and winked. My face began to flush red. Of course, I remembered what he had said about pink hair.</p>
<p>“It was pretty funny though.” Naomi said.</p>
<p>“I feel kinda left out, I’m the only one who didn’t see Gem with pink hair.” George looked over at Naomi, a mischievous look in his eye, “Wanna try?”</p>
<p>“Absolutely not George Weasley. I prefer my luscious brown locks.” Naomi said, while flipping her hair in George’s face.</p>
<p>“I quite enjoy them as well.” He said before quickly kissing her cheek.</p>
<p>The waitress brought out another round of butterbeers and I began to feel the same strange bubbling sensation that I had felt when I first turned into Anna that morning.</p>
<p>“Speaking of hair,” Fred said, looking over at me, “I think you should take another drink of the Polyjuice potion; your curls are getting straighter by the second.”</p>
<p>I pulled out the vial and struggled a bit getting the top off. Fred laughed and took it from me, twisting the top off with ease. I drank the remaining potion and my hair popped back into its tight curls.</p>
<p>“Crisis averted.” I said with a thumbs up, laughing into Fred’s shoulder. There had to be something else in that butterbeer because I am definitely not a lightweight. But maybe Anna was, and I was stuck in her body, with all of her strengths and weaknesses.</p>
<p>I decided not to drink that fourth butterbeer.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Fred said after taking a sip of his drink, “how did you end up pulling off that charm in dark arts the other day?”</p>
<p>“What do you mean?” I was confused, I thought that he and George had figured something out and that’s why the spell worked. I hadn’t even thought about that since it happened, I was too busy thinking about Warrington and his sudden interest in Naomi.</p>
<p>“Yeah, Fred and I were worried you would be caught, but then you figured it out all on your own.”</p>
<p>“You mean you didn’t perform the spell and make it look like I did it?”</p>
<p>“Umm no, that would be pretty difficult.”</p>
<p>“What are we talking about?” Naomi said, joining in on the conversation.</p>
<p>“Gem didn’t tell you?” George asked, looking down at Naomi who was leaning on his shoulder, “She had to present the Imperturbable Charm in front of the whole class. We thought she was a goner for sure, but somehow the spell worked.”</p>
<p>I was confused. Maybe it was the drinks getting to me, but it sounded like neither of the boys had done the spell, and I hadn’t done anything other than chant the spell and flick my wand like Naomi had told me.</p>
<p>Was it possible that I had performed the spell myself?</p>
<p>No, there had to be another explanation. I was a muggle. I’d always been a muggle. Naomi was the witch of the family. If that were all a lie, I don’t know what I would even do with that information. I would have missed out on a huge chunk of my life. Things could have been so different, so much better.</p>
<p>“You don’t think-” I said, staring intently at the full drink in front of me.</p>
<p>“Maybe <em>you</em> performed the spell Gem.” Naomi said, shock written all over her face.</p>
<p>“How would that be possible?” Fred asked, “You never got a letter, you’ve been a muggle your entire life.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, think about it.” George said, “They can communicate together in their minds, have you ever heard of a muggle doing that? And they’re identical twins. You know as well as I do that identical twins share every physical trait that the other has, it wouldn’t logically make sense that one has the witch gene, and the other doesn’t”</p>
<p>“Well, why wouldn’t I get a letter then? Who would try and hide that from me?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know, but we need to test some things. Obviously, you’ll need to start with beginner spells, and they won’t work as well since you don’t have a wand of your own but-”</p>
<p>“Wait,” I said, my mind a bit foggy from the drinks. “What are you talking about.”</p>
<p>“You have to try and perform some spells,” Fred said, agreeing with George, “maybe it was a fluke, but I’ve never heard of muggles accidentally performing spells.”</p>
<p>“We should wait until after winter break.” Naomi said, and I nodded in agreeance. This was a lot to take in, and if we were wrong, and it somehow was just a fluke, then I didn’t want them to fail their winter exams because we spent their last week trying to test if I was a witch.</p>
<p>“Okay,” George said, seeming to know where Naomi was coming from without her even having to explain herself, “as soon as we return back from break, we’ll start testing it out.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Sixth Year- The Yule Ball</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>December 25<sup>th</sup>, 1994</em>
</p>
<p>The night had finally come. Exams were over and the entire castle was buzzing with excitement for the ball. Jules had been asked out by Kendric Riggs like she had expected, even though he had only managed to ask her a few days before the ball. I was relieved though; her persistent complaining every night about not having a date was getting on my nerves. She still decided to wear her heels, but she chose much shorter ones than she had originally planned. Even with the shorter heels, she still stood at about 6’4, which was a good four inches taller than her date. She said it didn’t bother her, but the way she stared at her shoes before putting them on made me think that she was contemplating even wearing them at all.</p>
<p>Anna had a simple light blue dress that her mum had worn to her Yule Ball when she had attended Hogwarts. It looked absolutely gorgeous on her.</p>
<p>It was nice to be able to just see Anna again and not be her.</p>
<p>I did not enjoy that particular experience of my time here at Hogwarts.</p>
<p>Anna had been asked by a Durmstrang boy months ago, and they were officially dating as of last week, so she was very excited for the ball to show off her new boy.</p>
<p>Once all of us were officially ready for the ball (or in my case, sitting in my dormer listening to the music blasting downstairs), Anna pulled out the camera that her parents had gotten her for Christmas and started having us pose for her so that we would have memories of that night. Naomi and I sat in the dormer; my legs draped over hers. While we were laughing over how ridiculous we must look, Anna snapped the picture without telling us. </p>
<p>“Hey!” Naomi yelled at the sight of the flash. The picture printed out of the camera and Anna started shaking it with a smile on her face. “I wanted to capture the real moment, not some fake, posed one. I think you’ll like this one much better.” She handed us the developed picture, which was not a picture at all. It was a video of Naomi and I laughing in the dormer, pure happiness on both of our faces.</p>
<p>“It’s perfect Anna!” Naomi said, pulling her into a big hug, “Please take some more!”</p>
<p>We took so many pictures that night, I was worried that Anna would run out of film, but she never seemed to care every time she placed a new cartridge in the camera. I could tell that Jules was over all of the pictures as she was standing near the door with her arms crossed over her chest.</p>
<p>“We should head to the common room.” She said, slightly tapping her foot on the ground “Our dates are waiting.”</p>
<p>“She’s right.” Naomi said, running to the bathroom to make sure she still looked nice. She had nothing to worry about though, George was so in love with her that she could show up in a potato sack and he would still think she was the most beautiful girl in the world.</p>
<p>Anna handed me the stack of photos we had taken and shoved her camera into her purse.</p>
<p>“I wish you could come!” She said, looking at me with pity.</p>
<p>“I’ll be okay, I’ve already had enough fun tonight, too much more and I’ll probably explode.”</p>
<p>She gave me a look that showed that she knew that I was lying, but she left the conversation at that and headed out the door with Jules following behind her.</p>
<p>“Don’t have too much fun tonight.” I teased as Naomi reapplied her lipstick for what seemed to be the hundredth time.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything you wouldn’t do.” She winked at me as she left the dorm, once again leaving me all alone.</p>
<p>I walked over to the dormer and sat down, flipping through all of the pictures that we had taken that night. There were a few with all four of us, since Anna had enchanted the camera to take photos on its own, but Jules never really seemed to be enjoying the pictures, so those ones weren’t my favorites. The best ones were the ones with just me and Naomi. We never really had any pictures of the two of us together like that except for ones from when we were little and were still forced to dress the same. These new pictures you could see the difference in the two of us easily. I found the first picture that we took and hid it under my pillow. Naomi could have her pick from all the other ones, but that one was mine and I was going to be keeping it forever.</p>
<p>After an hour or so of sitting in the dormer, looking out towards the lake, thinking about the past semester at Hogwarts, I hopped off the ledge and started packing my trunk. I was heading to the Burrow early the next morning with Fred and George so that their parents didn’t freak out when they didn’t arrive on the train. I considered changing into comfier clothes, but something about doing chores in a ballgown made me feel like royalty, and I didn’t want that feeling to fade.</p>
<p>After another hour of doing absolutely nothing, I heard a loud noise on the stairs and I stood up to go investigate, but not before Naomi stumbled into the room, clearly drunk out of her mind.</p>
<p>“Hey.” I laughed, helping her walk over to her bed, “How was the ball?”</p>
<p>“It was amazing.” She said, dragging out the last word far longer than needed. “Go downstairs, there’s someone waiting for you.”</p>
<p>“There’s no one waiting for me, Nom. You’re drunk.”</p>
<p>“No, I promise.” She said, pushing me away from her while I was trying to brush through her tangled hair, “This was the plan all along, I would go for the first half, and then you would go with Fred for the second half. He’s waiting for you, you better hurry.”</p>
<p>“You’re serious?”</p>
<p>“Dead serious. Merry Christmas!”</p>
<p>I pulled her into a tight hug, “This is the best Christmas gift I’ve ever received.”</p>
<p>I hopped up out of bed and checked myself in the mirror. My makeup still looked fine, which I could attribute to Anna’s spell that she used to make it stay on all night, but my hair needed to be straightened a bit more. I quickly plugged the straightener in and ran it through my hair a few times.</p>
<p>“How do I look?” I said, turning to Naomi, but she was already passed out on her bed. I pulled her covers over her and rushed out of the room and down the staircase.</p>
<p>I turned the corner to see Fred standing with his hands in his suit pockets, slightly slouched over talking to George. I had never had a boy take my breath away like that, but I couldn’t help it, he looked so damn good in that suit.</p>
<p>“Wow.” George said when he finally saw me on the staircase. Fred turned to look, and his mouth fell open when he saw me. George noticed and laughed as he shut his jaw for him. Fred gave him a look but quickly turned back to me.</p>
<p>“You look absolutely beautiful tonight.” He said, holding out his arm for me to grab, which I did.</p>
<p>“You don’t look too bad yourself Weasley.” I said with a smile. I couldn’t believe that I was actually going to a ball at Hogwarts, and with a boy as cute as Fred Weasley, nonetheless.</p>
<p>“Your girlfriend fell asleep.” I whispered to George before Fred and I headed down to the ball, “I think she drank a bit too much punch.”</p>
<p>“I’ll go check on her.” George laughed before enchanting his shoes and heading up the stairs.</p>
<p>Fred and I began to walk down to the ball. I was practically skipping through the halls; I was so excited. I couldn’t believe that I was actually going to the ball. Then, just as suddenly as I was hit with excitement a few moments before, I was hit with a new feeling.</p>
<p>Guilt.</p>
<p>Fred had asked Angelina to the ball, and now here I was, stealing away her man.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” Fred said, noticing the sudden change in attitude.</p>
<p>“What about Angelina?”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, everyone agreed that she was trustworthy, and we told her the whole situation. Last I saw she was snogging some Beauxbaton boy in the hallway near the astronomy tower.”</p>
<p>“So, she knows about me?”</p>
<p>“I’ve been friends with her for years. She won’t tell anyone.”</p>
<p>We entered the Great Hall, my hand laced in Fred’s. He squeezed my hand when he noticed the awe that had taken over my face. The Great Hall had been decorated gorgeously for Christmas. White tables lined the walls, leaving room for a grand dance floor in the center. Up on the stage, there were three large pine trees coated in a light dusting of snow, and a strange looking band playing in front of them.</p>
<p>“Wait, that’s not—”</p>
<p>“The Weird Sisters, yeah.” Fred laughed and I suddenly remembered dancing to one of their songs in the Gryffindor common room the night of the first task.</p>
<p>Fred pulled me over towards one of the tables at the side of the room. A few tables down sat Ron and Harry, sulking, with their poor dates by their side who were basically begging any boy that walked by to ask them to dance. I made a mental note to ask Fred what their problem was later, when we were no longer in ear shot of them.</p>
<p>“You stay here, I’ll go get us some drinks.” Fred said before turning around and heading towards the table on the opposite end of the hall.</p>
<p>I took a seat at the table and looked around the room once more, taking in every little detail that I could find. The ceiling had been enchanted to look as if snow was falling, but the room was warm, as if I were cuddled up next to the fireplace in the common room. Almost everyone was out on the dance floor, and I couldn’t wait to join them soon.</p>
<p>Something in the corner of my eye took my attention away from the decorations. I turned my head to see Cassius Warrington, strutting over to me as if he owned the place.</p>
<p>
  <em>Will this boy ever leave me alone?</em>
</p>
<p>“Walters, I see you’ve changed.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I felt like a costume change would be dramatic. I was bored of the other dress.”</p>
<p>“I never pegged you for the dramatic type.” He laughed, eyeing me up and down, “I like this one better though, it’s hot.”</p>
<p>I rolled my eyes, praying that Fred would hurry up with the drinks and take me away from this boy. Although I had to admit that he did look very nice in his formal robes.</p>
<p>“Can I have this dance?” He said as the song faded from a slow dance into one that was a bit more upbeat.</p>
<p>“No.” I said, crossing my arms, “I have a boyfriend, Warrington. How many times do I have to say it to get it through your thick skull?”</p>
<p>“Boyfriends aren’t permanent, Walters.” He said with a wink.</p>
<p>I quickly stole a glance behind me, breathing a sigh of relief when I saw Fred walking back over with our drinks.</p>
<p>“Warrington.” He acknowledged him, as he handed me my drink.</p>
<p>“Weasley. I was just chatting with your little girlfriend here. You should really keep her in check, I think she was flirting with me a bit.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “Don’t lie.” He said, laughing at how obviously uncomfortable he was making me, “I saw you eyeing my robes. I know you like it.”</p>
<p>“Leave her alone Warrington.”</p>
<p>“I’ll see you after break, Walters.” He said, ignoring Fred and winking at me before walking back to the table he had been sitting at earlier.</p>
<p>“What a prick.” Fred mumbled before drinking his punch. I took a sip and could clearly tell that it had been spiked. No wonder Naomi was such a mess when she came to the dorm earlier.</p>
<p>“What’s in this?” I laughed, taking another sip.</p>
<p>“George and I spiked it before the dance started.”</p>
<p>I finished my drink and grabbed Fred’s arm, “Let’s dance!”</p>
<p>I recognized the song as the one that Fred and I had danced to the first time I heard of The Weird Sisters. I liked this version better though; I always preferred live performances to studio versions.</p>
<p>We headed out to the dance floor and I started to jump around, letting my body move to the rhythm of the music. Fred quickly matched my energy and we both made fools out of ourselves in front of all of the other Hogwarts students, ignoring all of the strange looks that they were throwing at us. This went on for at least ten songs, but I wasn’t paying much attention, every song that the band played sounded similar. At one point I forgot that everyone else was there, and it felt like it was just me and Fred, and we had no worries in the world.</p>
<p>After about an hour of dancing like that, the band switched to a slow song, and a majority of the students cleared the dance floor.</p>
<p>“May I have this dance?” Fred asked, bowing to me with his hand held out. I laughed at how ridiculous he looked, but I agreed and took his hand. Everyone around us was dancing to a choreographed routine, and I realized that this was one of the dances that they learned in their mandatory lessons.</p>
<p>“Should we go sit down?” I whispered to Fred, looking around at all the other couples performing the dance.</p>
<p>“Nah, I don’t care if we aren’t doing what everyone else is doing, I just want to be here with you.” He pulled me closer and I leaned my head on his shoulder as we swayed back and forth to the music. I breathed in the smell of cinnamon, Fred’s signature smell, and I allowed it to engulf my senses.</p>
<p>At that moment, I didn’t care about the stupid Slytherin boy who wouldn’t leave me alone. I didn’t care that I was a muggle disguised as a witch. I didn’t even care that there was a slight possibility that that was incorrect.</p>
<p>All I cared about was Fred. He was all that I wanted.</p>
<p>The night continued on, and Fred and I danced and drank more until eventually we were one of the four couples left on the dance floor as everyone else had made their way back to their dorm rooms to prepare for their trip home the next day. The band announced that this was their final song of the night and I pulled Fred to the middle of the dance floor.</p>
<p>“This was the best night I’ve had in a long time!” I screamed over the music; The Weird Sisters really knew how to end a party.</p>
<p>“Me too!” Fred screamed back.</p>
<p>The music ended and the Great Hall began to clear. Fred grabbed my hand, and we made our way back to the common room. We talked about winter break and how we would leave right after breakfast tomorrow. Fred told me his mum was very excited to have me visiting for Christmas, and that Harry and Hermione would also be joining us for break. I was excited to be celebrating the holidays with Fred’s family. The holidays at my house were always pretty gloomy. Naomi was typically upset to be away from Hogwarts, and my parents weren’t the type to have big celebrations, so we would usually end up watching a movie and heading to bed early every Christmas.</p>
<p>From what Fred had told me about his previous Christmas’s with his family, I was in for a major culture shock.</p>
<p>The two of us stood at the bottom of the stairs, neither one of us making any sort of effort to leave the other. After a moment of standing there, I decided I would be the first to head upstairs. I was getting tired, and still had things to do before leaving for the Burrow the next day.</p>
<p>“I’ll see you in the morning.” I said as I pulled away, turning to head up the stairs.</p>
<p>Before I was able to climb even one step, I felt Fred’s hand grab my wrist, and I turned back around to face him, looking him in his gorgeous eyes.</p>
<p>“Yes?” I asked, my heart pounding against my chest.</p>
<p>“I really like you, Gem.” He said as he brushed his hand along my cheek.</p>
<p>“We’ve already established this, Weasley.” I responded, inching closer to him.</p>
<p>“No, I realllly like you.” He teased, stepping even closer to me. Our faces were mere centimeters apart.</p>
<p>This was it.</p>
<p>“Well I realllly like you too.” I responded, placing my hand on his cheek.</p>
<p>Before I knew what was happening, he leaned his head down, placing his lips gently on mine. It was incredible. My stomach erupted in butterflies and it felt like fireworks were going off all around me. Never had I kissed a boy before and had this reaction. Especially such a simple kiss as this.</p>
<p>“I wanted to make sure you had an amazing night.” He whispered as his lips gently brushed against mine.</p>
<p>“It was amazing before.” I whispered back, cupping his face and kissing him again, “Now it’s perfect.”</p>
<p>I pulled away and smiled up at him. His hair was disheveled from all the dancing, and his bow tie was undone, but he still looked just as handsome as he did when I first saw him at the bottom of the stairs earlier that night.</p>
<p>I turned around to head up the stairs, but before I turned the corner I looked back at Fred, who was leaning on the wall, watching me walk away.</p>
<p>“Thank you.” I said with a soft smile.</p>
<p>“For what?” He smirked, cocking his eyebrow.</p>
<p>“For saving our first kiss.”</p>
<p>“Planning on kissing me again, Walters?” He asked, a cheeky grin spread across his face.</p>
<p>“You wish.” I responded, turning away from him to hide the blush that had spread across my cheeks and turning the corner on the staircase.</p>
<p>But I did plan on kissing him again. I planned on kissing him as many times as possible.</p>
<p>A lifetime of kisses wouldn’t be enough.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Sixth Year- An Afternoon Nap</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>December 26<sup>th</sup>, 1994</em>
</p>
<p>I kept myself busy the next morning, trying desperately to keep the memory of the kiss out of my head. Not that I didn’t want to think about it, because I did, badly. It’s just, every single time I would catch myself thinking about it, I would have to stop and catch my breath. It was the most wonderful kiss I had ever had, and, for lack of a better word, it truly felt magical, as if fireworks erupted the moment his lips touched mine.</p>
<p>I found myself looking forward to the next kiss that I could share with Fred.</p>
<p>I looked through my bag once more, folding the few t-shirts that I had for the third time, continuing to occupy my mind with any thought other than Fred. I just couldn’t get the image of him leaning on the wall as I walked up the staircase out of my mind. He just looked so <em>good. </em>And he felt the same way that I felt towards him. The thought made me want to squeal with excitement, which was something I had never thought of doing before.</p>
<p>There wasn’t much for me to do to prepare for my trip to the Burrow. I only had a bag worth of things at Hogwarts anyway, and if I was going to be keeping up the charade of being Naomi for the entire two weeks that I was there, I had even less to pack. Despite knowing that was the only logical thing that I should do, continue to pretend to be Naomi, I couldn’t bring myself to admit that it was what I was actually going to do. Something in the back of my mind told me that it would be alright if I told the Weasleys my secret. They seemed accepting enough. The slight possibility of them not accepting me still lingered in the back of my mind, but I choose to ignore it. Maybe that was stupid, but I was blinded by the thought of having to be Naomi for so long in such a small, close-knit environment.</p>
<p>Surely I would slip up somehow.</p>
<p>It was getting closer to the time when I would meet Fred and George in the common room to head to my car, and Naomi was still sound asleep in her bed. I couldn’t leave her without saying goodbye, and even though I knew she was going to be waking up with possibly the world’s worst hangover, I knew that I had to wake her up.</p>
<p>“Nom.” I said, shaking her shoulder, “Nom wake up, I have to leave.”</p>
<p>She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and pulled the covers over her head, waving her hand towards me to tell me to leave her alone. I had dealt with Naomi many times in the morning, but I had never had to deal with hungover Naomi. That was something I never thought that I would see.</p>
<p>“Do you want some water?” I asked, “Medicine maybe?”</p>
<p>“Water.” She groaned, not bothering to pull the blanket down from her head.</p>
<p>I hopped off her bed and grabbed an empty glass from her trunk, filling it with sink water. If she were more aware of her surroundings, she would have been able to conjure up some decent water that didn’t taste like the Black Lake, but this was the best I could do with what I had.</p>
<p>“This is disgusting.” She said, handing me back the full glass and sticking out her tongue.</p>
<p>“Sorry.” I shrugged. I dumped the water into the sink and handed her the empty glass, which she quickly filled with water with just the tap of her wand.</p>
<p>“How was the dance?” She asked, clutching her forehead and still not bothering to open her eyes. I had kept the curtains drawn since I knew that this was going to happen, but it was still fairly light in our room.</p>
<p>“Oh it was okay.” I responded, “Nothing much happened. Oh, except <em>Fred kissed me!</em>” I didn’t want to bore her with the details of the actual dance when I knew that this was what she really wanted to hear. Plus, I really wanted to tell someone.</p>
<p>Naomi immediately shot up from bed, quickly placing her glass on her nightstand and momentarily forgetting that she was hungover. “Tell me everything!”</p>
<p>“There’s not much to tell.” I said, “I was about to head upstairs to bed after the dance and he grabbed my arm and pulled me back and then he just, kissed me.”</p>
<p>“Did you kiss him back?” She asked excitedly.</p>
<p>“Of course I kissed him back, you idiot. And then we kissed again.”</p>
<p>“How many times!?”</p>
<p>“Just those two.” I answered. Thinking about that moment brought butterflies to my stomach. “They were the best two kisses I’ve ever had though. He’s just so wonderful.”</p>
<p>“Have you guys talked about it yet?” She asked, scooting out from under the covers to sit closer to me.</p>
<p>“No,” I laughed, “It was late, so I went to bed right after.”</p>
<p>“Well, do you want to do it again?”</p>
<p>“Of course I want to do it again.” I said, shoving Naomi’s shoulder. “I just don’t want to rush into anything. Especially after James.”</p>
<p>Naomi furrowed her brow and scooted even closer to me. “Fred isn’t James though. He may be an idiot, but he’d never hurt you like that.”</p>
<p>“I never thought James would hurt me like that either.” I said. Thinking about James gave me the opposite feeling that I got when thinking about Fred. I never wanted to feel that way again.</p>
<p>“If Fred ever hurts you like that, I’ll be sure to have George throw him in the Black Lake and feed him to the giant squid.” Naomi said, pulling me into a tight hug.</p>
<p>“Thanks Nom.” I laughed.  I stood up from her bed and grabbed my bag off the floor, checking my watch in the process and realizing that I was supposed to be downstairs five minutes ago to meet the twins.</p>
<p>“I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you in two weeks.”</p>
<p>“Be careful.” She said, “I don’t want you to get caught.”</p>
<p>“I’ll be fine.” I lied, knowing fully well that I planned to be myself while at the Burrow, whether that was a smart decision or not.</p>
<p>“I just don’t want you to go home. I mean, we just started hanging out again and I don’t want that to end.”</p>
<p>“I’ve gotten pretty good at pretending to be you.” I smirked.</p>
<p>“I’m serious, Gem.” She said, “I don’t want to lose any more time with you.”</p>
<p>“I know.” I replied sitting back down on her bed and pulling her into another hug, “I don’t want to lose any more time either.”</p>
<p>A few hours later, Fred, George and I were up in the sky, heading towards their home. We had snuck out through a secret tunnel that they had learned about when they had the marauders map their first year at Hogwarts. It was dark and murky, and smelled slightly like dead fish, but it brought us right to the entrance of the Forbidden Forest, so it was worth it in the end.</p>
<p>Unlike Fred’s claims, my car was not infested with acromantulas. In fact, it looked exactly like it did only a few months ago.</p>
<p>“Fred?” I said, looking over at him as he flew the car over the railroad tracks. George was sitting in the back; he had been sulking the whole way so far since his legs were far too long to not be in the front seat. I offered to sit back there, but Fred told him to stop being a baby and to let me sit in front. I knew that he just wanted to sit by me, and I didn’t mind. I was tall too, definitely not as tall as George, but my legs were pretty squished back there the last time we rode to Hogwarts.</p>
<p>“Yes?” He responded, placing his hand on my thigh.</p>
<p>“I don’t want to pretend anymore.”</p>
<p>“You have too.” George said, poking his head into the front of the car. Fred slowly moved his hand off of my thigh and back on the steering wheel. Did he not tell George about the kiss?</p>
<p>“I’m just tired of it. I just want to be myself again.”</p>
<p>“Our parents are very accepting of all types of people.” Fred said, turning to look at me. He didn’t really need to keep his eyes on the road when there wasn’t a road in the first place, “But we can’t guarantee that they’ll allow you to come back to Hogwarts after the break if they know that you’re a muggle.”</p>
<p>“Are you really willing to risk it all for a couple weeks of being yourself?” George said, putting his hand on my shoulder.</p>
<p>“I don’t know, maybe they’ll be cool about it. I don’t think you understand how draining it is to pretend like this. At Hogwarts I at least could be myself in the dorms and at meals. I have to be <em>on</em> the entire time at your house.”</p>
<p>“If you expose yourself here, that’s one, two, three, four more people knowing about you at Hogwarts.” Fred said, counting his siblings and their friends on his fingers.</p>
<p>“Even if our parents let you go back, that’s a lot more possibilities of someone accidentally slipping up and exposing your secret.” George said, adding on to Fred’s argument.</p>
<p>They both were making valid points, but I couldn’t stop thinking about spending all of that time as Naomi. It was clouding my judgement.</p>
<p>“I’m gonna tell them.” I said, turning away from both of the boys and looking out the front window. I could see in the corner of my eyes that they both exchanged a worried glance, but I tried to ignore it.</p>
<p>“Gem,” Fred said, placing his hand on my thigh again, causing me to take a quick breath from the unexpected contact, “I don’t want to risk it. I don’t want you to go back home.”</p>
<p>I turned to look at him, not expecting to see the sadness in his eyes, “Then you’ll just have to convince your parents to let me stay at Hogwarts.”</p>
<p>A few hours later, and many more attempts at convincing me to change my mind, we arrived at the Burrow. I had never seen a house like it before. I tried to figure out how it was being supported, since the top of the house seemed to sit on a totally separate house, but I figured it had to be some sort of magic holding it all together.</p>
<p>The house seemed to be oozing magic out of every window.</p>
<p>Strange plants I had never seen before were growing in the window planters, despite it still being the dead of winter. To the left of the house were the same six circular goal posts that I had seen on the quidditch pitch a month prior, they were just a much smaller scale than the ones at school.</p>
<p>We parked the car in the front lawn and unloaded our bags from the boot.</p>
<p>“You’re sure about this?” Fred said, taking my bag from me. I had tried to tell him that I could carry it myself, but he insisted.</p>
<p>“Positive.”</p>
<p>“Alrighty then,” George said, slamming the door of the boot, “let’s get this over with.”</p>
<p>We walked through the front door and Fred called out for his mum, who ran down the stairs, looking exasperated at the sight of the twins.</p>
<p>“What are you two doing here?” She said, looking back and forth between the two boys, “I’m supposed to be picking you up from the train in an hour.”</p>
<p>“We had to take a different way home.” George said, stepping to the side so that his mum would notice me standing there.</p>
<p>“Oh! Naomi dear!” She said, running over to pull me into a hug, “How are you? I’ve heard so much about you! I’m so excited that you’ll be joining us for-”</p>
<p>“Mum.” Fred said looking over at George with the same worried look that they exchanged in the car, “This isn’t Naomi.”</p>
<p>“Yes, it is, you can’t trick me like that, George has shown me pictures.”</p>
<p>“He’s right.” George said, looking down at me with a look that I assumed meant <em>are you sure about this?</em> I nodded up to him and he continued to explain the situation. “This is Gemma, Naomi’s twin sister. She’s uhm, she’s been staying at Hogwarts with us this semester.”</p>
<p>“I thought Naomi’s sister was a muggle?” I looked down and suddenly pretended to be very interested in my shoe laces, trying to avoid eye contact. Maybe this wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but it was too late now to change my mind.</p>
<p>“I am.” I replied. I didn’t want the boys to take all the heat, but it didn’t seem to matter, because she was already furious at them for missing the train, and now adding this made it seem as if she had steam blowing out of her ears.  </p>
<p>“You mean to tell me that you two have been harboring a <em>muggle</em> all semester at Hogwarts?” She screamed, hitting both of them on their shoulders.</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Fred and George said together.</p>
<p>Mrs. Weasley looked distressed; I could tell she was trying to figure out what she was going to do about the situation. Fred and George both looked down at me with concerned faces.</p>
<p>“Please don’t make me go home.” I mumbled, loud enough for the three of them to hear.</p>
<p>“Oh, sweetie.” Mrs. Weasley said, rubbing my shoulder, “I’m not quite sure what to do, I have to talk to Arthur.” Her face quickly turned from sympathetic to stern as she looked back up at the twins. “This is a very serious stunt you two are pulling. Do her parents even know where she is?” I shook my head, looking down at the ground again. “Oh, heaven’s sake. Well, we’ll deal with all of that later. I have to pick your siblings up from Kings Cross.” She began to throw on her winter clothes, running around frantically trying to find every piece she needed. “Oh, and Naomi, I mean, Gemma, I’ve made up Percy’s old room for you upstairs, says he’s too busy to spend the holiday here. The boys will show you where it is so that you can get unpacked.”</p>
<p>I thanked her as she left the house and then turned to the twins, “That went well, right?”</p>
<p>“Swimmingly.” Fred said sarcastically. He seemed to be a bit cross with me, but I tried to ignore it. He picked up my bag, leaving his at the bottom of the stairs, and George headed for the kitchen, opening cabinet after cabinet, most likely looking for a snack after our long flight.</p>
<p>Fred and I made our way up the stairs to Percy’s old bedroom. The room was very plain, nothing at all like the rest of the house. I had only seen the kitchen and living room so far, but this room looked like it was some motel room in a random country town, not at all how I would have imagined a room in the Weasley’s house to look like.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” I asked as I was placing my clothes in one of the empty drawers. I noticed that Fred hadn’t said anything for a while, which was out of character for him. He was just sitting on the edge of the bed, twiddling his fingers.</p>
<p>“I meant what I said in the car. I don’t want to lose you Gem.”</p>
<p>I climbed onto the bed behind him, hugging him around his neck. “You aren’t going to lose me.”</p>
<p>“I just got you,” He pulled away from my hug and turned to face me, “I want more time.”</p>
<p>“Don’t get all sappy on me Weasley.” I joked, but I could see in his eyes that this was really upsetting him. “If your parents do decide to send me home, that’s just a little over a year that we have to be apart. I’ll write to you every day.”</p>
<p>
  <strong>“I don’t want to write to you. I want to talk to you, I want to see you, I want to hold you.”</strong>
</p>
<p><strong>“Then hold me right now.”</strong> I said falling back on the bed and patting the empty space next to me. Fred crawled across the bed and laid down next to me, wrapping me in his arms and pulling me closer to his chest. He kissed me on the forehead and closed his eyes, breathing in every second as if it were our last.</p>
<p>“You’re so dramatic.” I laughed, turning around to lean my head into his chest.</p>
<p>“Gem?”</p>
<p>“Hmm?” I responded as I was trying to fall asleep. I hadn’t gotten much the night before since I was up all night thinking about the kiss. A nap sounded very nice right then.</p>
<p>“What are we?”</p>
<p>I should have been expecting that question, but somehow it still came as a shock. I didn’t know what we were, and I wasn’t ready to have any labels yet, I was still recovering from the last time someone called me their girlfriend<em>. </em></p>
<p>“We’re just really good friends at the moment.” I responded, hoping that that would be good enough for right now.</p>
<p>“Okay.” He responded, “Really good friends it is.”</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>“You two were up there for quite a while.” George said, raising his eyebrows at us and leaning back on the kitchen counter as Fred and I walked back down from Percy’s room. Fred and I had both fallen asleep, but we awoke to the sound of an engine rumbling in the driveway and figured that we should be downstairs to welcome everyone home.</p>
<p>“We were taking a nap.” I said, pulling out a chair and sitting down, leaning my head on the kitchen table. The nap did not help, I seemed to be more tired than I was when we laid down in the first place.</p>
<p>“Likely story.” George said, winking at Fred who just laughed and sat down at the table next to me, rubbing my back, which didn’t help me one bit in my exhausted state. I had just started to close my eyes and drift back to sleep when the front door opened and the rest of the Weasleys entered their home, jerking me awake.</p>
<p>“Naomi?” I heard Hermione say from the doorway. I had expected to have a few spare minutes before someone would question me being there, but Hermione always had to be so observant. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here for break? I could have sworn I saw you leave the train station with your parents.”</p>
<p>“You probably did,” I said, “Because I’m not Naomi.”</p>
<p>I stood up from the chair and walked over to the newcomers. “Gemma Walters.” I said, holding my hand out for Hermione to shake. She reluctantly took my hand, but I could tell she was still confused.</p>
<p>“Blimey, do we have a story for you guys.” Fred said, swinging his arm over my shoulder.</p>
<p>Mrs. Weasley ushered everyone into the living room and Fred, George, and I explained everything that had happened this past semester. From flying to school in my enchanted car, to sitting in class for Naomi, to even using Polyjuice potion to get me to Hogsmeade. Some of the things we mentioned I realized that we maybe should have left out, since I could see on their mum’s face that she did not approve of all the things that the twins and I had done over the past semester.</p>
<p>“Bloody hell.” Ron said, eyeing me up and down, “You’re really not Naomi then?”</p>
<p>“Nope. I’m 100 percent Gemma Walters. Naomi is back home with my mum and dad.”</p>
<p>“I thought I saw her on the train.” Harry muttered.</p>
<p>“Was that you at the Yule Ball last night then? In the green dress?” Ginny asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” I laughed, thinking about how very different Naomi’s dress was from mine, and how neither of us seemed to think that it might look weird if she came back to the dance in a totally different dress. I was surprised that more people didn’t point it out. “I wanted to wear my own dress to the ball.”</p>
<p>“It was very pretty. I liked it a lot.”</p>
<p>“Thanks Ginny, I liked it too.”</p>
<p>Mrs. Weasley sat up from the chair she was sitting in and smoothed out her dress, “While this is all very exciting, you all should head upstairs and unpack. Your father will be home soon and I’m sure he is looking forward to a nice meal with his entire family. Hermione, you’ll be up in Ginny’s room, and Harry, you can stay with Ron.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Sixth Year- A Proper Magical Christmas</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The twins and I were instructed to assemble the tables in the yard for dinner since their kitchen table wasn't going to fit all of the extra guests. Both of the boys reluctantly agreed and started putting their winter gear on to head outside. I looked out the window, double checking that it was still winter.</p>
<p>It was, and it seemed to be snowing a bit as well.</p>
<p>"It's freezing outside." I whispered to Fred, feeling as though I was stating the obvious. I wearily grabbed my coat off the hook and laced up my boots, keeping my eyes on the snow gently falling down outside.</p>
<p>"Yeah?" He responded as he pulled his hat over his head. He didn't understand the concern in my voice. How were we supposed to eat dinner outside without catching pneumonia? Maybe wizards and witches were immune to infectious diseases like that, but I didn't think I needed to remind Fred that I wasn't a witch. I could catch pneumonia. And frostbite. And in less extreme cases, the common cold.</p>
<p>"We're eating supper outside?" I asked, trudging out the door with the boys. "In the snow?"</p>
<p>Fred and George both smiled and looked at each other, "Muggles." They said before heading out into the cold, leaving me to stand alone in front of the back door, still concerned as to how we wouldn't all catch frostbite during supper. I started heading the direction that the boys had gone, following their footprints once I lost sight of them, eventually leading to an old shed behind their house. I found Fred and George pulling a box out from under the shelf. It seemed to be pretty heavy, as both of them were pulling but the box was barely budging.</p>
<p>"Need some help?" I asked, walking over towards the two of them.</p>
<p>"Thank Merlin you're here Gem." Fred said, stepping away from the box.</p>
<p>"We desperately need your help." George added, "This box is far too heavy for the both of us."</p>
<p>I crossed my arms and looked back and forth between the two, trying to figure out if this was some sort of trick that they were trying to pull on me, or if they genuinely needed my help. They were strong, far stronger than I was. It didn't make sense that I would possess the final amount of strength needed to pull the box out from under the shelf.</p>
<p>I decided, against my better judgement, to trust the two and I bent down to pull out the box with them. Fred and George counted to three, and on three I pulled as hard as I could, which sent me flying back against the shed wall.</p>
<p>It took me a moment to realize what had happened that caused me to be in that position.</p>
<p>The two had pretended to be struggling with pulling the box out, and once I started to help, they stepped aside, leaving me to pull myself and the empty box back against the wall.</p>
<p>Both of the twins stood there laughing for a few seconds before they both reached out their arms to help me up.</p>
<p>"You two are total gits." I said, wiping the dirt off of my pants from the shed floor.</p>
<p>"We couldn't help ourselves." George said, reaching for a box on the top shelf.</p>
<p>"It was just too easy." Fred responded while he was pulling out a folded table from the corner of the shed. "Can you grab the other end?"</p>
<p>"Are you gonna prank me again?" I asked, walking over to the table and grabbing the other end. I figured that I was safe, they wouldn't prank me twice in one minute.</p>
<p>"Never." Fred said with a wink.</p>
<p>We carried the table out together to the open field that was still coated in over a foot of snow.</p>
<p>"Seriously Fred, how are we gonna eat dinner out here? I'm freezing and I still have all of my winter clothes on."</p>
<p>"George is grabbing the tent. It's enchanted to trap heat in, so we can eat outside. Mum figured it out once Ron and Ginny were old enough to sit at the table with us and we ran out of room in the house. We don't use it much anymore though, since Bill and Charlie- and now I guess Percy, don't really make it home for dinner very often."</p>
<p>I could tell that this upset him a bit, thinking about his family being torn apart. I couldn't really understand though, since the only family that I knew were my parents and Naomi, and I was pretty used to being split up all the time.</p>
<p>George turned the corner, holding a bundle of fabric and a few poles. Fred ran over and grabbed the poles from him and the two of them sat in front of me, assembling the tent together. I tried to help, but I just felt like I was in the way, so I just stood off to the side while they set it up.</p>
<p>Once the tent was raised, I noticed that the snow underneath it had started to melt away until the only thing left under the tent was the grass that had been buried so many months ago during the first snowfall.</p>
<p>"Go test it out." Fred said, noticing my amazement. I walked under the tent and immediately was hit with a rush of warm air. I took off my jacket and turned to see Fred and George grinning at me.</p>
<p>"This is amazing." I said, spinning around under the tent, "Why does the muggle world have to be so boring?"</p>
<p>"You tell us." Fred said, helping George pick up the table and bringing it underneath the tent.</p>
<p>"I don't know how you muggles survive out there." George said once the table had been unfolded.</p>
<p>I laughed and started heading towards the shed again with Fred and George following behind. We had to make a couple trips, but eventually we finished grabbing all of the chairs and placing them around the table. Once we finished, I stepped back to admire our hard work. It didn't look like much, but I figured it would have to do to fit the large family.</p>
<p>Just then, Mrs. Weasley walked outside of the house and over towards where the twins and I had set up the tent. With a quick flick of her wand, the table that was once just a white plastic folding table, turned into a gorgeous wood, and the metal folding chairs that we had just placed around the table became a matching set. With another flick of her wand, the top of the tent was lined with string lights, and the table settings began to float over from the kitchen window. I once again stared in awe of the magic that was happening around me. It was so strange to see it used so freely. While at home there was absolutely no way that Naomi could use magic, and even at Hogwarts, the only magic I really saw was the magic everyone used while in class.</p>
<p>I turned my head at the sound of a popping noise within the house.</p>
<p>"That must be Arthur." Mrs. Weasley said, turning to head inside. I looked at the twins with a worried look because I knew that soon, their parents would be discussing my fate. I didn't want to think about it, so instead I excused myself and went up to Percy's room to get ready for dinner. I changed out of Naomi's sweater and into one of the few shirts that Naomi had packed for me at the beginning of the year. This one was an oversized band tee that had a few deliberately placed rips in the shoulder. I pulled on a pair of ripped jeans and my black converse and examined my outfit in the mirror. It had been months since I had worn clothes that I enjoyed wearing in the presence of people who weren't my roommates. Not even Fred had seen the outfits that I typically wore in the muggle world. I heard a knock on the door and opened it to find Fred standing outside.</p>
<p>"Dinner's ready." He said, eyeing me up and down. I could tell by the slight smirk on his face that my outfit change intrigued him. I threw on my jacket that I had tossed on my bed and walked with Fred down the countless stairs until we were outside. There were only two chairs left at the table. One near Ron, Hermione, and Harry, and the other on the opposite end, by Ginny and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Fred forced Ginny to move to the other empty seat and he and I sat near his parents.</p>
<p>"This looks amazing Mrs. Weasley." I said, taking in the grand feast in front of me.</p>
<p>"Oh, please dear, call me Molly." I smiled over at her and nodded my head.</p>
<p>Everyone dug into the feast and began talking about their past semester at Hogwarts. Molly was very concerned with the fact that Harry was participating in the Triwizard Tournament, which, at this point should have honestly been called the Quad-Wizard Tournament. Harry assured her that he was fine, but I could tell by the tone in his voice that he was nervous about the next task. I remembered hearing that the egg he received from the dragon task was supposed to tell him a clue to the second task, but when he opened it at the party that night, it let out a horrible screeching noise. I made a mental note to ask Harry if he had ever figured out what the hint was.</p>
<p>"Molly tells me you're a muggle." Mr. Weasley said from the head of the table. My heart started beating fast. Was this it? Were they really about to tell me I had to go home during dinner? Fred squeezed my thigh from underneath the table.</p>
<p>I nodded my head, my mouth too full to verbally respond.</p>
<p>"Brilliant!" He exclaimed, much to my surprise, "Do tell me, what is the purpose of a junk drawer?"</p>
<p>I heard Hermione and Harry chuckle from down the table. I couldn't help but laugh as well. It was so strange to me that there was this entire community that was totally different from muggles, and they were just hiding in plain sight.</p>
<p>"I suppose it doesn't really have a purpose." I responded, thinking about the junk drawer in my own kitchen back home. It was full of keys that we had no use for, and pens that most likely had no ink left. I'm sure that there were even a few old sauce packets and napkins from our frequent trips to the fast-food restaurant down the road from our house. "It's mostly a catch all for things that don't really have a place."</p>
<p>"Fascinating." He said, jotting something down in his notebook that he had pulled from his pocket. I noticed Molly rolling her eyes as she took a sip of her wine. Mr. Weasley continued to ask me questions about my muggle life. I often looked down the table and Harry and Hermione, who I knew were also raised in a muggle household, but neither of them offered to answer any of the questions for me, they just continued on with whatever conversation they were having at that end of the table.</p>
<p>Once all of the plates were cleared, I made my way inside with the girls while the boys put the table and tent back into the shed. I was glad to have gotten out of that task as my back was still sore from the prank the twins had pulled on me earlier. I headed into the kitchen, ready to help clean the dishes, but I noticed immediately that they were instead cleaning themselves.</p>
<p>"It's a lot to get used to." Hermione said, noticing my reaction to the magic being used in the kitchen.</p>
<p>"You can say that again."</p>
<p>Hermione sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out the chair next to her which I took as a queue to sit down.</p>
<p>"So, you really have been attending Hogwarts all year?" Hermione asked. I nodded my head, "Did you ever hang out with me as Naomi?"</p>
<p>I laughed, remembering the time that she berated me in the Gryffindor common room about not understanding anything in potions, "A few times. But I tried to keep quiet when I was around Naomi's friends. I didn't want to say anything that would draw suspicions towards us."</p>
<p>"I honestly had no idea. I just thought she was acting strange."</p>
<p>We both turned our heads at the sound of the boys walking back into the house. The snow must have picked up while they were outside, because they were all covered head to toe in little white flakes. I noticed Fred taking off his sweater that was damp from the snow melting on it. As he pulled his sweater off, his shirt underneath got caught on the way, revealing the tiniest glimpse of his stomach. I caught my breath at the sight of his toned chest, butterflies quickly forming in my stomach, and I wanted nothing more than to run my fingers through the creases.</p>
<p>Fred noticed me staring and winked at me from across the room, causing my face to blush.</p>
<p>◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦</p>
<p>Later that night, we all sat around the fireplace in the living room. The glow of the fire mixed with the lights on the Christmas tree created the perfect festive ambience.</p>
<p>This was nothing like the Christmas's I had celebrated before.</p>
<p>Everyone went under the tree to find their presents, and I was surprised to find one with my name on it. I grabbed the present and walked back to my cushion on the floor, looking at the twins skeptically before I sat down. I felt bad that someone had gotten me a gift. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind to bring gifts for their family.</p>
<p>"That one's from us." The twins said in unison, referring to the present I was holding in my hands. It still creeped me out that they were able to say things together, sometimes even full sentences, while Naomi and I had some sort of twin power and yet still had difficulty talking in unison.</p>
<p>"Fred and I picked it out ourselves, we thought you would like it."</p>
<p>"I didn't get you guys anything." I said, staring down at the wrapped present sitting in my lap, "You really shouldn't have."</p>
<p>I knew that money was tight in the Weasley household. They would never admit it, but Naomi had told me once before, and honestly it was to be expected when you had a family as large as theirs. I felt horrible taking a gift from them, but the twins insisted, so I reluctantly unwrapped their gift. Underneath the wrapping was a cardboard box, and I eyed the twins, hoping that it wasn't another one of their tricks.</p>
<p>I cautiously opened up the box to find a camera, similar to the one that Anna had gotten for Christmas.</p>
<p>"Are you serious?" I asked, shocked at the amazing gift that I had just received. Both of the twins nodded their head and I pulled them into a group hug. "Thank you. I love it." I whispered as I had my head in between the two's shoulders. George patted me on the back and Fred smiled at me.</p>
<p>I picked up the camera and snapped a photo of the twins without them knowing. They saw the flash and quickly rushed to grab the picture out of my hands before I even knew what was happening.</p>
<p>"I've never seen a more handsome person in my life." Fred said as he looked at the picture, "You're not too bad yourself, Georgie." He nudged his brother who ripped the photo out of his hand to look at it himself. I stood up from my cushion on the ground and plucked the picture out of George's hand. "That is mine, thank you. I'm going to need something to remember you two in case I have to move back home soon."</p>
<p>I didn't mean to say that out loud, but it wasn't as if I was lying. Molly and Arthur had yet to tell us what they had decided. I looked over at Molly who had a pained expression on her face and my heart dropped. I figured that they had made a decision already, but I was praying that it was one that would let me go back to Hogwarts.</p>
<p>"I talked to Arthur earlier." Molly said, looking over at her husband who nodded back at her, "We've decided that you may return to Hogwarts, there's really no harm in you being there. We only ask that you write to your parents and tell them that you are okay."</p>
<p>I handed the photo back to George and ran over to Molly, pulling her into a hug, and then bounced over to Arthur, doing the same to him.</p>
<p>"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I exclaimed. The mood that I had accidentally placed over the room earlier by mentioning moving back home quickly changed from gloom to excitement as we finished unwrapping all of the presents and sat around the fire drinking hot cocoa, talking about everything and anything. As the hours dragged on, everyone started trickling out of the living room and heading to bed, leaving only Fred and I sitting by the fire by the end of the night.</p>
<p>The room was silent other than the crackling of the fire. The light snowfall outside was calming as I cuddled up with Fred on the couch. I closed my eyes and started to let sleep take me.</p>
<p>"I got you another present." Fred said as he ran his fingers through my hair.</p>
<p>I opened my eyes and looked up at him, "You should have told me we were doing gifts; I would have gotten you something."</p>
<p>"It's okay, you can just get me double gifts next year." My heart fluttered at the thought of spending another Christmas with Fred. He pulled a gift out from under the couch and handed it to me. It wasn't wrapped so I immediately knew it was a cassette tape, even if it had been wrapped, I'm sure I would have figured it out. Under the dim light of the fire I made out the words <em>Weird Sisters </em>scribbled on the back. I sat up on the couch and stared at Fred, who was grinning from ear to ear.</p>
<p>"How did you get this?"</p>
<p>"I had Hermione make it for me a few weeks ago. You'd be surprised, no stores in Hogsmeade sell muggle cassette tapes of a wizard band." I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and jumped up from the couch, making my way towards the stairs.</p>
<p>"Where are you going?" Fred asked, sitting up from the couch.</p>
<p>"I have to go listen to it right now!"</p>
<p>I ran up the stairs and into Percy's old bedroom, rummaging through my bag, looking for my Walkman and headphones. Once I found them, I popped out the cassette that was already in there and placed in the new one. I plugged in my headphones and crawled under the covers of my bed, closing my eyes, and listening to the first track. I didn't even notice that the door had opened and closed until Fred crawled into bed with me. I pulled off my headphones, but you could still hear the music blasting through them.</p>
<p>"Can I try?" Fred said, holding out his hand for the headphones. I handed them to him, and his eyes grew wide when he placed them over his ears. He left them on until the song finished and then pulled them off, "That was amazing. It felt like the music had consumed my entire body."</p>
<p>"Now you see why I love it."</p>
<p>"Can I listen to another?" Fred asked, and I laughed at his amusement. He was beaming from ear to ear as I nodded my head. He placed the headphones back over his head and I pressed play. His eyes closed and he started nodding his head to the rhythm of the music. I buried my head in his shoulder and listened to the faint sound of the music coming from the headphones. I closed my eyes and started to drift asleep, my head moving up and down to the movement of his chest.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>